Parallel
by IzzieStar
Summary: Hoping to find a weapon the defeat the Wraith, Rodney opens up a wormhole to a parallel universe. How will John and Elizabeth react when they come face to face with themselves expecting a baby?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

'I'm nervous.' Elizabeth said quietly to John.

'Don't be.' Rodney snapped from the balcony.

Elizabeth and John exchanged a glance before staring determinedly at the gate. Rodney took one final tentative look at the control crystals and slowly walked down the stairs to join his makeshift team. A team which was looking particularly reluctant to be escorting him on his initial use of the device he had created which enabled them to use their gate to open wormholes to the same gate in parallel universes. Elizabeth, who'd secretly hoped the device wouldn't work, had been persuaded that this device would be essential in helping them defeat the Wraith. And after days of meticulous planning, this was to be the day.

The team that stood before Rodney was made up of Weir, Sheppard, Zelenka and Beckett. People, he had informed Elizabeth, whose expertise would be invaluable to the trip. Elizabeth had suspected that his asking to take her along was, in part, flattery to convince her to authorise the expedition, but she was thrilled to have the opportunity to take part in such a ground-breaking expedition.

While they were away, Elizabeth was leaving Atlantis in the capable hands of Teyla and Steven Caldwell, who had unfortunately insisted on being present before allowing the expedition to take place. Elizabeth briefly wondered if he'd made such an arrangement so he could step in and take her place if things went awry, but there was too much going on to worry about Caldwell's ulterior motives.

Elizabeth looked to Rodney for permission to activate the gate; she didn't want to rush him on this, knowing how much it meant to him. After a moment's hesitation he nodded.

'Dial the gate Chuck.' Elizabeth said.

The wormhole stabilised and they waited, knowing that the shield would be raised on the other side to make radio communication.

'Hello.' Elizabeth said, expecting to hear her own voice in reply.

'Could you tell me who this is?' The voice of Rodney McKay asked.

Elizabeth turned to look at Rodney with a smile before replying, 'My name is Elizabeth Weir, and you are Doctor Rodney McKay.'

'Meredith McKay. Rodney is my middle name. Can you please explain what is going on here?'

'This quite complicated to explain so I'm going to hand things over to our own Rodney McKay.' Elizabeth said.

'Umm, hello...me. Anyway, we're from a parallel universe – I know you're probably wondering how that is possible, but for some months now I've been developing a device which enables us to reconfigure the DHD to dial to our very own gate but in a...'

'Parallel universe. Doctor Radek Zelenka, our head of Science, has been working on a similar project.' Meredith said.

'What? Zelenka? If he's head of Science, what am I? You, I mean?' Rodney said.

'I am the leader of the Atlantis expedition.' Meredith said proudly.

Elizabeth looked at Rodney and shrugged, before indicating for him to continue.

'Congratulations on that,' He said gruffly, 'Anyway, would you permit for us to come through the gate.'

'Absolutely. Come right through.'

Elizabeth looked back over her version of Atlantis and smiled to the personnel she had gotten to know so well over the last two years and smiled at them, hoping that if anything did go wrong that they would be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It was as if they had walked back into their own control room. A mirror image. The same militia who surrounded the gate as they entered. The same technicians at the controls. There was one major difference though; it was Rodney – _Meredith_ McKay who was welcoming them, not her. One first glance, he was the same Rodney, but when she looked a little closer he was slightly thinner, and his hairline had receded further. She was sure Rodney's naturally competitive side would be pleased to see this.

'I presume you are your leader, Elizabeth.' He said reaching out to take her hand and kiss it.

Elizabeth looked round to her Rodney in alarm, whose own facial expression was stunned.

'Err, yes. What am I here?'

'You are our expert in Ancient. Well, you were. Our Lizzie is currently on maternity leave.' He said with a smile.

'Maternity leave?' She said, with a strained laugh.

'Yes. I'm sure she'd love to meet you later.' He said, gleefully.

'Who's the father?' Carson asked cheekily.

'Major Jonathan Sheppard. Or you, to be precise.' Meredith said, nodding in John's direction.

'Technically I'm Lieutenant Colonel back home.' John cringed.

Elizabeth turned to look at his reaction, but he was determinedly avoiding her eye.

'So you must have been promoted?' Meredith said.

'Yeah.' John replied.

'Which means you have contact with Earth?' Meredith said.

'Yes. The Daedalus was able to bring a ZPM which gave us the ability to dial home, and to contact you actually.' Rodney said.

'The Daedalus?' Meredith asked.

'A 304 ship developed by the SGC in order to make communication between us and earth possible.' Rodney explained.

'We aren't quite so lucky. We don't have a Daedalus and no means of travelling to earth at the moment. Would you like to continue this conversation in the briefing room, I'm sure we'd be more comfortable there?' Meredith said.

'Is there any way we could arrange for some food? I'm starving.' Rodney asked.

Elizabeth gave him a reprimanding look for his impertinence, but Meredith didn't seem fazed by Rodney and asked a technician to have somebody bring snacks. Rodney was staring at Meredith with seemed to be a fusion of admiration, jealousy and ardour. It must be rather bizarre for somebody who loves himself _so _much to actually get the opportunity to meet a more successful version of himself. To be honest, she was actually rather looking forward to the alternate version of herself to have a glimpse into what her life could have been like.

When they arrived in the briefing room, Elizabeth was surprised to see plates of sandwiches already laid out for them which Rodney eagerly reached out for at exactly the same moment as Meredith. Trying to suppress a giggle, she watched as the politely pulled their hands away and began comparing their favourite foods. Eventually, when Meredith and Rodney had finally stopped cooing over each other and were each sat with a sandwich, they sat down and were ready to begin.

'Where to begin.' Meredith said, grinning.

'The Wraith sounds like a good place.' John said.

'Why? Our research suggests that they're going to be dormant for over a hundred years yet.' Meredith shrugged.

'That sounds nice.' Sheppard commented.

'I don't understand.' Meredith said.

'We, err, accidently managed to awaken all of the Wraith in the galaxy.' John said.

'_You _did.' Rodney pointed out.

'How?' Meredith asked.

'When we arrived in Atlantis, we were submerged and Colonel Sumner arranged a team to go through the gate-' Elizabeth said.

'And you met the Athosians. Shortly after you began negotiations, the Wraith attacked and abducted both Colonel Sumner and a woman we – you – met called Teyla. We mounted a rescue mission, but it was too late, both had been killed. Fortunately, we were able to escape before we were detected.'

'That wasn't quite how it panned out for us. We must have got there a little earlier than you did, and we were able to save Teyla, Colonel Sumner unfortunately died, but we managed to wake the Wraith up.' John said, uncomfortably.

'And I thought we were unlucky when you said you had contact with earth.' Meredith grimaced.

'There is nothing that you have come across that could help us defeat the Wraith?' Elizabeth queried.

'We have been able to learn a lot about their physiology from the few we have come across, and we believe there may be a way to change their feeding process so they don't require human life. Progress is slow though.'

'That's bloody brilliant!' Carson said eagerly.

'You haven't been able to develop a cure with all your resources?'

Carson blushed slightly at this comment.

'Sorry, that sounded rude.' Meredith began.

'You wouldn't have apologised.' John whispered to Rodney.

'What I meant was, given that you've clearly had greater opportunity to interact with the Wraith, and help from earth, have you not been able to develop a counter-measure to the feeding process?' Meredith continued.

'We have looked at several counter-measures, but been so far been the Wraith have either overcome the measures, or the measures have resulted in human deaths.' Carson explained.

'Perhaps with the knowledge we have both collected, we'll be able to find a solution without these negative results. After we've assigned you quarters, how would you like to meet our Doctor Beckett?' Meredith asked.

'I'd love to.' Carson said, with wide-eyed excitement.

'Great. Let's get started.' Meredith said standing up.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two

After being assigned their own quarters, Meredith had given John and Elizabeth the prerogative to explore the city and see if there were any advances that had been discovered in this version of Atlantis that could be of use to them. In other words, Meredith had told them that they were surplus to requirements, as Carson had excitedly been ushered off to meet...himself and Rodney and Radek had gone to look over the research in the science department. She didn't really mind having nothing to do, in fact, it was rather welcomed, but she felt rather useless as the rest of her team was able to help in some way. The look on John's face indicated that he felt the same way. For him, it was probably even harder; he was used to being at the forefront of the action on missions. Not left wandering around a city he already knew inside out.

Not really knowing what to say, and feeling awkward about Meredith's revelation about the relationship between herself and John in this world, they hadn't said a word to each other in the whole time they were walking aimlessly. Eventually, they ended up in a corner of the mess hall looking into their coffees, trying to ignore the curious stares in their direction. That was until they were joined at their table by a certain John Sheppard. Major Jonathan Sheppard.

'Hey. I've been watching you for five minutes now and you haven't said a word to each other. Did he leave his clothes on the bedroom floor again?' Jonathan teased.

'Okay, let me stop you right there. We're' John waved a hand between him and Elizabeth, 'not together.'

'You're not?' Jonathan asked sounding genuinely surprised.

'No.' Elizabeth assured.

'Sorry. I just assumed.' Jonathan said.

'That's okay. We were equally surprised to find out that we're together here.' Elizabeth said.

'And expecting.' Jonathan said, happily.

'Congratulations. Is there any way I could meet-' Elizabeth asked tentatively.

'Lizzie? She's asleep at the moment, but I'm sure we could arrange something for later.'

Elizabeth was then surprised to see Jonathan's attention drawn away by the view of Laura Cadman walking past them and across the mess hall. Even her John wasn't _that _blatant in his admiration of the female body. She looked over to her own John who was watching himself with a look of amusement on his face. Jonathan turned back to look at them.

'Finished?' John asked, sarcasm weighing heavy on his voice.

'Sorry. I was thinking.' Jonathan said, lying with ease.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow in the direction of her John who looked equally dubious about what Jonathan had just said. Suddenly, Jonathan stood up.

'I've got a few things that I need to be doing. I'll come and find you when Lizzie's feeling better.'

When he was out of ear shot, Elizabeth moved slightly closer to John.

'Did you see that?' She asked.

'I know. Carson's not gonna be happy.' John said.

'I was more thinking about Lizzie. I mean, do you think she knows? How must that make her feel?' Elizabeth asked.

'You tell me?' John asked, cheekily.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him. Clearly she had chosen the wrong person to have a meaningful conversation with about the alternate versions of themselves. It just didn't sit comfortably that Lizzie – or any woman for that matter – was lying asleep somewhere with her unborn child, while the father was seeking cheap thrills eying up other women. She thoroughly doubted that her John would do that, despite Rodney's claims about his likeness to Captain Kirk.

Rodney appeared in the mess hall and grabbed a bagel, before practically skipping in their direction and sitting down next to John.

'Meredith is just fantastic.' Rodney gushed.

'Here we go.' John muttered to her.

'I mean, he's just like me, same ideas, same conclusions about theoretical physics...' Rodney said.

'Who knew it was possible to reach new heights of self-loving when talking about somebody else?' John asked.

Elizabeth suppressed a smile at this and tried to look interested.

'I'm being serious. I mean you should see the solution he had for their power shortages.' Rodney said eagerly.

'I'm all ears.' Elizabeth said.

'Wind power.' Rodney said, smugly. 'They have four generators situated around the city which covers over fifty percent of their energy requirements. Can you believe that? The guy is a genius.'

'Why didn't you think of that?' John asked.

'Well, we've been more focussed on finding ZPMs and the war with the Wraith. Something that Meredith doesn't have playing on his mind.' Rodney said, uncomfortably.

'Or maybe he's just smarter than you?' John suggested, nonchalantly.

'I hardly think so, given the several brilliant ideas that I've had that he hasn't. He was particularly impressed with my ingenious idea of converting the shield into a cloak using technology from the jumpers.' Rodney said.

'Sure, but when is he ever going to need to use that? They don't need to hide from the Wraith. We, on the other hand, do need power.' John pointed out.

'I've had other ideas which could be of use to them.' Rodney said petulantly.

'Name one.' John challenged.

'Gentlemen, can we just give it a rest? For once.' Elizabeth pleaded. 'Where's Radek, by the way?'

'Oh I left him behind to look at the material structures for the generators?'

'If this is such a groundbreaking project, shouldn't you be doing that?' Elizabeth asked.

'The idea was groundbreaking, putting into practice is pretty mundane.' Rodney said, through a mouthful of bagel.

Elizabeth looked away from this sight to see Carson walking towards them, looking just as excited as Rodney had been. She wasn't sure she could cope with them both going into overdrive explaining new discovers in their areas of expertise.

'Oh, Elizabeth, the research that Doctor Beckett has done into the cell structure of Wraiths is just breathtaking.' Carson said.

'Lizzie and Jonathan are having a baby.' John said, out of nowhere.

Each of them turned to look at him, curiously. He looked back at Elizabeth.

'I just wanted to prove that we can do cool stuff too.' He said, defensively.

Elizabeth smiled at him appreciatively, before turning back to look at Carson.

'With some more research, I think we might be able to alter the DNA of future Wraith.'

'No offence, but I'm more interested in the present Wraith.' John said.

'Nevertheless, this breakthrough could save the lives of millions of future generations.' Carson said.

'You will never guess how Meredith has overcome their power shortages.' Rodney said to Carson.

John leant across to Elizabeth, 'How do you fancy continuing our stroll?'

'Love to.' She whispered back.

'Err, we've got plenty to be getting on with, so we'll see you later.' John said.

Quickly, they exited the mess hall before they could become embroiled in another detailed account from Rodney. Once in the corridor again, Elizabeth was reminded of the complete lack of anything for them to do. No paperwork. She couldn't remember the last time she didn't have paperwork to do. In a perverse way, she almost missed it. It gave her a purpose.

'McKay seems happy.' John said.

'Yes. I suppose it's his dream come true.' Elizabeth said.

'I can't say I'm that taken with myself. I'm not like that, right?' John asked.

'No. You haven't got me pregnant for a start.' Elizabeth said, smiling to herself as she walked back to her quarters.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

When they gathered again in the evening to eat dinner with their team, Elizabeth thought she was going to go mad as she watched her colleagues having conversations with themselves and getting on well. It occurred to her that she had never seen Rodney and Zelenka looking so content. It figured really; Rodney would never appreciate the work or theories of somebody who wasn't him, and Zelenka was probably enjoying working alongside a head of Science who did actually appreciate and respect him.

And it looked like this ritual was going to continue for at least another week. After taking a look at their version of the device which had enabled them to travel here, Rodney had quickly asserted that it would take them another week to get it active, alongside all the other research he would be doing whilst they were there. Elizabeth suspected that he may have been over-exaggerating slightly to ensure that he could work with Meredith for as long as possible. And until then, she would be stuck with a cranky Colonel who looked like he was going to he wanted to inflict great pain on both McKays, whose similarities seemingly extended to ego.

'If I hear either of them say, 'you're a genius' again...' John warned.

'It makes his usual self seem modest.' Elizabeth commented.

'Now come 'Lizabeth; I wouldn't go _that _far.'

Jonathan entered the mess hall, and ushered Elizabeth and John over to join him. Eager to get away, they both stood up and followed him to his and Lizzie's quarters, where Elizabeth was finally given the opportunity to see herself as a pregnant lady. Beyond the small bump, there were other obvious differences – Lizzie's hair was longer, with the curls even more untamed and her attire was more hippy. Whilst she actually really liked the hair, she could never see herself wearing a tie-dye maternity dress.

'It's lovely to meet you. Is it Lizzie?' Lizzie said, standing up to hug Elizabeth.

'No, it's Elizabeth.' She said, pulling away.

'Jonathan tells me that you're the leader of Atlantis, I'd love to hear how.' She said sitting down on the bed.

Elizabeth sat down next to her, 'Well, I actually briefly took over command of the SGC after working for the government at the United Nations-'

'This is unbelievable. I was never involved in politics. I've been with the SGC since the program began – working alongside Daniel Jackson.' Lizzie said excitedly.

'One of my Ph.D.s is in political sciences; did you never study for that?' Elizabeth asked.

'No. I only have the one.'

On the other side of the room, John and Jonathan were making small talk over a deck of cards.

'Jonathan says that you two aren't together?' Lizzie said.

'No.' Elizabeth confirmed.

'This must be strange for you? Seeing you and him together?'

'A little.' Elizabeth laughed, 'If you don't mind me asking, how did you start dating?'

'I was a member of Jonathan's team, and well, I fell in love with him. I think he always felt this need to take care of me because I wasn't military trained, and something developed between us.' Lizzie shrugged.

'It's good that you have each other.' Elizabeth said sincerely.

'Is there somebody in your life?' Lizzie asked.

'No. I was engaged before I came to Atlantis, but he's met somebody else and I'm married to my job.'

'That isn't healthy. If your people in Atlantis are as wonderful as ours, then there is somebody special out there for you.' Lizzie said, clutching Elizabeth's hand.

It occurred to Elizabeth why Lizzie wasn't a diplomat – she was much too sweet and caring. Elizabeth genuinely liked the differences she saw in her, but she knew that the reason why she hadn't gone on to study the second PhD was because she lacked the desire to take people on. She was gentle and preferred to help rather than take the spotlight herself. Whereas, Rodney was perfectly equipped for that – he was the natural leader of this Atlantis. And a leader without the threat of the Wraith. Was it her fault that they were worrying for their lives on a daily basis, whilst the worries on this Atlantis consisted of power shortages?

'Jonathan, quick.' Lizzie said suddenly.

'What is it?' Jonathan said, dashing over to her.

'The baby's kicking.' She said, grabbing his hand and placing it on her stomach.

Elizabeth watched the scene with a small feeling of wistfulness surfacing in her heart; they had each other, and their life seemed so perfect. When the baby had stopped wriggling, Jonathan leant in to kiss Lizzie who lovingly wrapped her arms around his neck. Realisation hit Elizabeth that this is how she and John would look if they were kissing. The same realisation had seemingly hit John too, based on the way he was wriggling uncomfortably.

Not wanting to intrude any longer, they said goodbye with excuses about how tired they were and left without much notice from the happy couple. In an unspoken agreement, they returned to their quarters, stopping at Elizabeth's door to say goodnight.

'So, erm, I'll see you in the morning.' John said, looking into her eyes.

'See you tomorrow.' She said, quietly.

Neither of them made a move, too occupied by the sudden confusion that was gripping them as they looked into one another's eyes. The subtle scent of aftershave emitting from him sent a shiver down her spine as she felt her body pull slightly closer to him. She was suddenly very conscious of her beating heart, and her eyes dropped to see his tongue roll seductively over her lips.

'I should be getting to bed.' John said gruffly.

Realisation suddenly hit Elizabeth and she pulled back from him.

'Good night Colonel.'

A/N: Reviews would be much appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

At five o'clock in the morning, Elizabeth finally gave in and took a shower and redressed herself. Since crawling into bed, she had been unable to stop thinking about John and what had passed between them. If _anything _had passed between them. John had certainly been eager to get away from her. She couldn't blame him; she'd almost kissed him. And he knew it. It was just that...well...she thought it was what he wanted too. The way he had looked at her...and yet he was the one that ended the moment.

And now she had the rest of the day to look forward to on her own. There was no way that she was going to spend the day with John again – it would be much too uncomfortable, especially if he thought she was throwing herself at him last night. Yesterday had been bad enough with the knowledge that they were shacked up in a parallel universe.

Fed up of the same four walls, she headed towards the mess hall to grab a coffee. It was something to do at least; she hadn't even thought of packing a book or anything. Maybe if she bumped into Lizzie again she could borrow something off her. In the dimmed lighting, she could make out the back of a figure. That hair. Hearing her enter he turned round to look at her and smiled.

'I thought you'd still be in bed.' She said, dumbly.

'Turns out pregnant Lizzie likes her room in bed.' He shrugged.

'Jonathan.' She said with realisation.

'You thought I was him.' He grinned.

She went over to get herself a coffee, and with little choice – unless she wanted to demonstrate unbelievable rudeness – she sat down across from Jonathan, who was studying her face with interest.

'You have more wrinkles than Lizzie.' He said.

She raised her eyebrows at him, 'In our world, John Sheppard is renowned for his charm with the ladies, it seems you aren't _completely _identical.'

'So how come he hasn't charmed you?' Jonathan asked, undeterred.

'Why don't _you_ ask him?' Elizabeth challenged him.

'I know him; he wouldn't tell me if I did. And I didn't mean to be rude by the way. I was just pointing out that you aren't _completely _identical.' He smirked.

Elizabeth was struck by the raw sexuality of _that _smirk and chose to divert her eyes to the contents of her coffee mug.

'I make you uncomfortable, don't I?' He asked.

'No.' She replied, squarely.

'So how come you weren't talking to each other yesterday?' He asked.

'How should I put this? When two adults know each other well, and are comfortable with each other, they don't have to talk to each other all of the time.' She said condescendingly.

'Do you fancy him?' John said, ignoring her comment.

'No. And, if I did, I don't see what business it is of yours.' She said, without a flicker.

'Just looking out for myself.' He said, with another smirk.

In many ways, it was just like having a conversation with her own John – the sarcasm in place of talking about real emotions, the focus of the conversation on her rather than him, but beneath the apparent similarities Elizabeth detected a difference. This John was selfish. He enjoyed playing games with people and watching them squirm. But he wasn't going to succeed with her.

'I'm surprised you don't want to know more about mine and Lizzie's relationship.' He commented.

'Why would I? It's _your _relationship.'

'But we're the same people.'

'Actually, I think you'll find my John is a rank above you. In more than one sense.' She said.

The more she tried to deter him from questioning her, the more he seemed to relish it, and hearing her last comment brought a look of satisfaction to his face that she suspected would lead him into more questioning.

'And you have an extra PhD than my Lizzie; does that mean you're a rank above?'

'I'm a civilian. I leave the ranking to the military.' She said cooly.

They sat staring at each other, battling to see who would break eye contact first. She never imagined that she could take so obstinately against any version of John Sheppard, but this one took being obnoxious to a new level. The moment was broken as Jonathan's radio cracked, and he pulled his eyes away from hers as he reached to reply. He stood up and left without saying a word to her and when his footsteps could no longer be heard, Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding in.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

After spending all night thinking about John Sheppard, it was natural that she would continue to think about him for the rest of the day. Only, this time, she was thinking about a different John Sheppard.

A team from one of the labs that was working through translations had asked her for some assistance on the advice of Lizzie, and she had willingly accepted, hoping to find a task to absorb her concentration. The translations were relatively easy though, and whilst she had fun telling the people she was working with about the achievements they had made in her universe, her mind kept flicking back to the conversation she'd had at the crack of dawn.

Everything about him had managed to infuriate her; the way he acted as if he knew everything about her, his persistent questioning, and the way he had clearly checked out another woman when he was already in a relationship and expecting a baby. Thinking of the lazy arrogance with which he lounged on his chair made her simmer with annoyance, and lose her track of concentration more than once that afternoon.

Lizzie had visited her just after lunch to see how she was settling in and whether she needed any assistance and Elizabeth had been itching to ask her about Jonathan. In the end, after making small talk about Lizzie and Jonathans relationship, she had chickened out because she knew there was no way she could ask without sounding impertinent or judging Lizzie's choice in men. She _was_; but she was making this judgement from snippets of time with Jonathan and without knowing anything about their relationship, which made such judgement biased and ill-informed.

Naturally, she had thought about Lizzie and John the couple, and comparing Lizzie's quiet, gentleness to his brash, outspokenness, she had actually come to the conclusion that she and Colonel John were better suited. They were equals. Something must be going right for Jonathan and Lizzie though, based on the fact they had began dating three months into the expedition and now, two years later, they were having a baby together. Maybe, she had judged him a little too rashly after all.

At six o'clock she was persuaded that she had done plenty to help and sent off to go and eat a meal. Being sent off to see her team for the first time that day reminded her of her own John and the awkwardness from the previous night. It really hadn't meant anything – she's simply been swept away by the love between Lizzie and Jonathan, which seemed rather ironic now. She just hoped that John realised that and she'd have her companion back tomorrow.

'Elizabeth, perfect timing. Rodney was just telling me about Meredith's theories on time travel.' John said, as she sat down.

Relieved that all was forgiven and forgotten, she raised her eyebrows at his obvious boredom in amusement.

'Where have you been today?' Rodney asked, not looking up from his meal.

'I was helping out with some translations. What have you all been doing?'

'We worked a few improvements on power regulation using the chair.' Rodney said

'By, 'we', I take it you mean you and your new best friend?' Elizabeth said.

'And me. Rodney kindly volunteered me to be their guinea pig for the day.' John said.

'Fun day, then?' She asked.

'Oh, the best.' John replied sardonically.

'I take it Radek and Carson are still with...Radek and Carson.' Elizabeth said.

'Yes, it's quite infuriating actually. They keep mumbling in Czech together.' Rodney said.

'You can hardly blame them.' John said.

'Meredith had a very valid point, Colonel.' Rodney replied.

'What did he say?' Elizabeth asked, curiously.

'Whilst they were working, and both Zelenkas were in hearing range, he told Rodney that it was nice to have somebody competent to work with. And Rodney agreed with him.' John said.

'You do realise that, when we leave here, you'll be back to working with Zelenka every day?' Elizabeth said to Rodney.

Rodney's face dropped at the thought, 'Don't remind me.'

Elizabeth shook her head in amazement at him; he really did lack tact at times. Oh well. No doubt he'd be the one that would suffer in the long run – Radek was never quite as cooperative when Rodney belittled him. They did all seem to be happy though – relishing working alongside themselves. Apart from her and John; they seemed to be the only people missing home at all.

When they finished dinner, John and Rodney headed back to the chair, despite John's protestations that he should stay to keep her company and she was on her own again. As she walked back to her quarters, she spotted Jonathan (only telling the difference through his clothing) who stopped with a big grin when he saw her.

'I was hoping to bump into you.' He said, leaning against the wall.

'Really?' Elizabeth asked, doubtfully.

'We didn't get a chance to finish our little chat.'

'Actually, I think I've said everything I wanted to say.' Elizabeth said.

'Well, if you need me.' He said, sauntering off.

Walking in the opposite direction, Elizabeth tried to ignore the niggling feeling of disappointment that was eating away at her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

After a good night's sleep, which hadn't been interrupted by thoughts of either John Sheppard, Elizabeth was able to enjoy a very productive day translating in the lab. For most of the day, John had actually come and sat with her, listening to her explanations about Ancient and the purpose of the texts she was translating without looking _too _bored. When Elizabeth had ventured into how he was feeling about the trip, they got no further than his annoyance at Rodney and complete and utter boredom which she had already inferred without him needing to tell her. If she could have sent him home, she would have done, for the sake of his sanity, but Rodney was already dragging his feet and saying it could take up to two weeks now. It was certainly dubious that it was going to take so long after he had created the device himself, but when she pointed this out he had began explaining using technical terms, and she soon made her excuses.

They'd had a brief meeting in the morning to check over their progress and findings and it all seemed like good news for Atlantis – she actually felt quite guilty that they were able to offer so little in return. Both Zelenka and Rodney were very keen on pushing forward with the wind power project, and Carson was hopeful that his joint research with the other Doctor Beckett could prevent the next generation of Wraith from needing to feed on humans, which was always a bonus.

After the meeting had ended though, she hadn't seen any of them again that day, and it was just her and John who sat down to eat the evening meal. At least people had got over the fact that there were two versions of them on Atlantis and weren't staring at them during every meal now.

'Just the woman I need.' Jonathan said, sitting down at their table and staring at her.

'What can I do for you?' She asked, coldly.

'I was hoping to put your second PhD to use. I've got a trade mission tomorrow and I could do with somebody to charm the food out of their fields.'

'And you thought of me?' Elizabeth asked, doubtfully.

'Yep. So, you going to come?' Jonathan asked.

'Wait a minute here,' John interrupted, 'Exactly how dangerous is this mission going to be?'

'They're farmers – the only thing they're interested in killing is livestock.' Jonathan replied.

'Trust me, you can't always judge these farming communities on appearance – we did that and both of us nearly got killed.' John said.

'John, I'm sure I'll be fine.' Elizabeth reassured.

Tearing his glare away from Jonathan, he looked at Elizabeth with concern for several seconds clearly worried about allowing her to go on a mission with a bunch of strangers.

'I'm coming with you.' He said.

'Wow, you're even more protective of her than I am of Lizzie.' Jonathan said, sounding amused.

Although, John looked as though he hadn't heard this or, more likely, was trying to ignore it, Elizabeth saw his jaw tighten as he gritted his teeth. Pretending she hadn't seen this, she turned to look back at Jonathan who was lazily swinging on his chair.

'I'll come on this mission and do your dirty work, on the condition that Colonel Sheppard is my personal bodyguard.' Elizabeth said boldly.

'Seriously, you aren't going to need him and don't you think it's going to strike them as a little weird that there'll be two of us?' Jonathan asked, sounding irritated.

'That's my offer.' Elizabeth said, sitting back.

Jonathan looked mildly irritated at her then said, 'Fine. We leave brief at 08:00 tomorrow.'

With a nod at each of them, Jonathan left and Elizabeth smiled to herself, enjoying her small victory.

'He does have a point though about us looking alike.' John said, absent-mindedly.

'I've already thought of that. You can be his twin brother; Kirk.'


	8. Chapter 8

As she joined the group that had convened by the gate, Elizabeth was hit by a wave of uncharacteristic giddiness. After years of being the leader, the sensible one, she felt as though she was being freed from the restraints of the IOA and the responsibility that came with her job. Not that she would even change what she did for a living – being able to command and negotiate a project of this cultural and technological value was incredible, it was just that sometimes it could get a little frustrating that they were out there meeting new people and exploring whilst she was sat playing solitaire when she was supposed to be ploughing through paperwork.

At debrief, Meredith had not seemed overly enamoured by the fact that Elizabeth and John were joining Jonathan's team on the mission – arguing that they had not be involved in the early stages of communication and that it wasn't appropriate for him to be responsible for what were, in actual fact, Elizabeth's people, and at this point Jonathan had 'helpfully' pointed out the dispensability of Colonel Sheppard in this mission, earning him a well-aimed glare from Elizabeth. Putting all her tact and negotiating ability into use she had detailed the range of agreements that she and John had been able to achieve, despite the threat of the Wraith, and how important it was to have somebody there who could ensure they were able to ensure a fair deal, whilst not putting them off with a military persona. She soon had him convinced.

So, by 09:00, both she and John were equipped for the trip – she could never quite get over how strange it felt to hold a gun – and met Jonathan and his team at the gate. Without the inclusion of Teyla and Rodney, the team was far from the one that she was used to at home, and incited a rather poignant memory as she looked on the youthful excitement of Aiden Ford. On seeing him, she had immediately tried to measure John's reaction, but he had played it calmly – putting out his hand and greeting his old friend without a hint of the heartache that he had suffered. Beside Ford, stood Laura Cadman who was Lizzie's replacement while she was on maternity leave and Zelenka who seemed to assume the role that Rodney did for John's team.

When the wormhole stabilised, John put his hand on the small of her back and gently encouraged her as if he realised the nerves she was experiencing at 'going on a mission'. For his, it was probably almost as natural as breathing by now. On the other side, Elizabeth was charmed to see a quaint, stone little village. A quick overlook told her that their technological knowledge placed them at the stage of Earth in the seventeenth century – not quite at the stage of electrical generation, but developing means by which they could farm on an efficient scale, with fields filled with crops and animals which looked vaguely sheep-like, and materials which enabled them to live safely through changes in the weather.

'Hallo!' A man said, approaching.

As he reached them, he enveloped each of Jonathan's team in a hug, which left them looking rather uncomfortable before stopping at John and Elizabeth with a perplexed look on his face.

'You are new?' He asked.

At this point, Jonathan stepped forward.

'Yes this is Elizabeth Weir, who is going to help us along with our trade negotiations and this is Kirk; my brother.' He explained, with his mouth twitching slightly.

'Kirk! Elizabeth! Welcome to Gargreya. I am Toma. I'm sure the Guardian will much appreciate somebody of intelligence with whom he can negotiate. Come along.' He said, clapping his hands.

Elizabeth looked over to Jonathan who just grinned at her, obviously used to the perkiness of this gentleman who had greeted them. Given the way they had been greeted so appreciatively, Elizabeth was hopeful that a deal could be negotiated without to much tension between the two parties.

Toma led them into the largest stone building, and the only one with two levels. Above the door there was a symbol which looked much like one of the animals she had seen grazing in the field, and Elizabeth wondered if this was some sort of government building for the community. They were led inside to wait, whilst Toma called upon the Guardian to see if this was an 'appropriate time'.

'Given what we are prepared to offer them, I'd say this is an 'appropriate time'.' Jonathan muttered.

'Yes, I'm afraid you may have your work cut out with the Guardian.' Zelenka said, to Elizabeth.

'Does he have a name?' Elizabeth asked.

'The Guardian prefers to be addressed by his title.' Laura explained.

'And what is he like?'

'Arrogant, petulant, moody…' Jonathan began.

'How kind of you to invite me along.' Elizabeth said, curtly.

'I take it he's no threat, militarily?' John asked.

'We did a sweep of the place and they have knives, bow and arrows, but nothing that'll trouble us.' Jonathan said, tapping his gun.

At this point, Toma came through the large wooden doors, wringing his hands and looking rather nervous.

'The Guardian is ready to commence negotiations – I must warn you though, he is very temperamental this morning – you may prefer to postpone your negotiations…' Toma said, warily.

'We'll be fine – there's no way he can be as bad as last time.' Jonathan said, walking towards the doors.

'What happened last time?'

Elizabeth shouted after him, but Jonathan had already boldly stridden through the foreboding door and they had slammed resolutely behind him. With no other option, Elizabeth followed the rest of the team with no knowledge about how would be the best way of negotiating with the Guardian. It didn't escape her notice that Jonathan had arrogantly expected her to get them a good deal without informing her about the man she would be deal with.

Inside the room, Elizabeth had been given the chair directly opposite the Guardian, who was immediately commanding in his posture; relaxed, yet comfortably aware of the control he conducted in the room. Seeing this, Elizabeth decided the best way to secure what they wanted would be to stroke his ego and make it look as though they were almost on a begging mission, knowing that he would revel in the feeling of power it would give him.

Elizabeth looked round at the team to check they were ready to commence and finally turned to Jonathan as he was the leader of this mission. It seemed that securing a trade agreement was not particularly high on his list of priorities though, given the way he was smiling at the rather attractive woman sat on the left of the Guardian, who was coyly returning his appreciation with a smile. Feeling a wave of irritation, Elizabeth struck her foot out to kick his leg. Wincing slightly, he gave smirked to himself, but did at least manage to tear his eyes away.

'Thank you for accommodating us here today, I appreciate that you must be an incredibly busy man. I'm Doctor Weir and I will be leading the negotiations between our two teams today.' Elizabeth said, with a winning smile.

'It's good to meet you. As part of our governmental procedure, I require you to sign this scribe that my wife will bring to you.' The Guardian said.

The lady next to the Guardian rose, and given that she was at least twenty years younger than the Guardian, Elizabeth tried not to show her shock as the scribe was laid down in front of her. She looked over the agreement which basically prevented her from speaking of the agreement with other planets or all trade agreements would be ended, and signed the form. Although she would have to inform Earth of the agreement in her mission report, she hardly thought this counted given that it was in another universe.

As she had expected, the negotiations were tedious and certainly not helped by Jonathan's constant stream of sarcastic mutters. After the first hour had passed, the Guardian insisted they take a break and she had rounded on Jonathan the second the team was alone in the room. His defence – that the Guardian was being obnoxious and making things as difficult as possible – was actually true, but, as she had pointed out to him, he had absolutely no right to criticise the Guardian for it when he was acting in exactly the same way. Realising that he wasn't going to win this argument, Jonathan soon returned to his chair with a sulky expression on his face.

Returning to her own chair, Elizabeth wondered if she'd be so hard on John and the honest answer was that she probably wouldn't. But then again, John would never act so ridiculously. It was undeniable though; there was something about Jonathan that really riled her.

Over the course of the day, which was creeping ever closer to evening, Elizabeth was satisfied to assume the position of control in the room and begin to start securing some trade agreements with the Guardian who seemed to detest and admire her in equal measures. Despite his efforts to push Elizabeth into an unreasonable concession, which caused Jonathan to resume his flow of sarcasm, she stood firmly and the Guardian reluctantly backed down and accepted her terms. It was easier than she had expected and the satisfaction she took from the power she had over him worried her a little, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that she was just doing her job.

During their latest break, she found herself alone with John as the others left for the restroom.

'Dr Weir, who knew you were such a tough cookie?' He said with a smile.

'I didn't expect it to be so easy.' She admitted.

'You're doing great. Hopefully we might actually get out of here before tomorrow.'

'We're nearly finished here; you're welcome to make your way back.'

'I said I'd take care of you.' He said sincerely.

Elizabeth felt a blush rise to her cheeks, 'I'm sure Jonathan won't let any harm come to his star negotiator.'

'Still. I think he's a little preoccupied with the Guardian's wife at the moment.'

'Yes. He's not exactly subtle, is he?'

'I wonder what they call her. Mrs Guardian? Queen Guardian? Guardian-ess?'

Elizabeth chuckled slightly and looked up at the door to see Jonathan returning with his usual self-satisfied smirk. Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth turned to resume her conversation with John. She really wasn't in the mood for battling Jonathan as well as the Guardian. Gradually, the rest of the team returned to join them and Elizabeth began to grow anxious as the Guardian still hadn't returned. Prior to this break, he had always been incredibly punctual in returning. Just as Elizabeth was about to voice her concerns to Jonathan, the room was filled with the sound of a crash and Elizabeth was missed by the falling door by millimetres.

With a feeling of genuine feeling of panic, Elizabeth looked up at the doorway, her eyes wide with fear. Marching into the room were several men wearing what looked like armour and holding bows and arrows. Instinctively, the rest of the team were holding their guns, and Elizabeth fumbled for her own and held it up, no idea whether it was even loaded. The Guardian's imposing demeanour filled the doorway, his eyes burning into Jonathan.

'You have pursued my wife and for this you shall be punished.' He said coldly.

'What? Me? I think you'll find that it takes two to tango – or kiss in this case.'

Elizabeth was suddenly hit by a wave of inspiration, which may or may not work, but she was going to have to give it a shot and maybe have some fun doing it. Returning her gun, she turned and slapped Jonathan across the face.

'How could you? We are going to be married and this is how you treat me?' She said, trying to look hurt.

'Wha-?' Jonathan said, looking confused.

'You told me you loved me,' she said, pummelling his chest, 'How could you? I am going to kill you. I hate you.'

From the corner of her eye, she saw that the guards were so entertained by the spectacle before them that the weapons in their hands had mindlessly dropped slightly. This was their chance.

'Run!' She shouted.

Pulling away from the room, she kneed the Guardian in the balls as she dashed out of the room, pulling her gun out again. As she had expected, all the guards in the hallways had been designated to terrify them so she was able to get away without prevention. Although she didn't have time to look back, the footstep behind her told her that the team had listened and were following her to the gate. Hopefully, they could make it away without being caught. And they had been so close to clinching the deal. She'd reprimand Jonathan when they were back in the city.

Thankfully, based on the way she was panting, the gate was only a short distance from the village and she dialled the gate and entered the temporary IDC she had been given. Once on the other side, all she could do was wait. Immediately after her were the two Johns, and shortly after they were joined by the rest of the team much to her relief. Her plan had been a gamble, but it had paid off.

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, I've had exams and then went on holiday.**


	9. Chapter 9

Since she had been a child, Elizabeth had had a very strict moral compass. One which had, at times, been pushed to breaking point during times as leader of Atlantis, but had always stood firm. It had now officially just been thrown out of the window. As Meredith, with Rodney's support, had rounded on her about her failure to secure a deal, she had the opportunity to reveal Jonathan's character. But she didn't. She protected him. She lied for him. And took the flack herself, explaining that she had been too tough. The rest of the team followed her lead and he had got off with little more than a slap.

Even she was bewildered as to why she had done it – he really _did _need brining down a peg or too. Perhaps it was John she was thinking of as she saw the anxiety in his eyes, knowing she would never publicly humiliate him. This John was _different _though. So different. All her immediate assumptions about him had been proven correct and at times she found herself positively loathing this arrogant, misogynist... She took a deep breath. _Stop thinking about him. _

After debrief, Elizabeth was fuming and had essentially told John to get lost as she made her way back to her quarters, ignoring her growling stomach. Everything had gone wrong today and she just needed some time alone to get over the simmering anger she felt. Anger which she was still feeling as the door signalled that somebody was outside. Elizabeth looked warily at it. She was pretty certain she knew who was going to be outside and she really wasn't in the mood to let him see her in her pyjamas. Despite herself, she stood up and opened the door.

'Jonathan.' She said, coldly.

'Hey. Can I come in?'

Of course you don't want the conversation we're about to have to be overheard, she thought bitterly. After giving him a dirty look she stepped aside and closed the door. She turned to look at him with her arms crossed in what she hoped was an imposing way.

'What can I do for you, Major?' She asked.

'Ouch. Not even going to offer me a drink?' He said.

'I might get the temptation to throw it at you.' She said, shocked at the harshness of her own words.

'Don't get all high and mighty. I came to say thank you. You were pretty spunky today. I was impressed.' He said.

'Trust me, that wasn't my intention.'

He stepped slightly closer and sat down on the bed, but she remained standing, folding her arms even tighter.

'Look Elizabeth, what happened today, it was a one off and I really appreciate you covering for me and all, but you're going to have to get over this Ice Queen act.' He said.

'You seriously expect me to just forget about what happened today?' She challenged.

'Yeah. We're both adults here; I don't see why this needs to be an issue.'

'Adults? The way you behaved today does not in the least bit warrant being described as 'adult', and this is very much an 'issue'. Do you realise how much she loves you?'

'That's what this about – you and him.' Jonathan said triumphantly, 'Is that why you guys aren't together? Did he cheat on you?'

'Carry on and the next slap I give you won't be an act.' Elizabeth warned.

'Did he?' He asked.

'John and I have never been together.'

'But you want to be.' He said, with a smirk.

'What right do you have, after I saved your butt, to come in here and start throwing accusations – false accusations – around? Are you trying to push me into telling Lizzie?'

At this he smirked again and Elizabeth was shaken by the desire to slap him again that was pulsing through her body.

'You won't tell Lizzie.' He said.

He stood up and walked closer to her, not breaking his eyes from hers once.

'How can you be so certain?' She asked, shakily.

'Because then you'd have to tell her about this.'

On the verge of opening her mouth to question him, she felt his mouth crash into hers and hungrily kiss her. Stunned, with her arms still folded against her chest, she felt one of his hands slide onto the back of her neck and pull her into him and the other rest on her waist. It wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling and...she began to feel her lips respond to his and her arms loosen. Sensing this, the hand on her waist slid under the seam of her top and she ran her hands through his hair to feel him closer, tighter. And then an image of the previous time she had seen of herself kissing this man swam through her mind and she pulled away, completely and utterly horrified. Uncertainly, her eyes met his, with the knowledge she most certainly didn't have any right to get all high and mighty with him anymore.

'Told you so.' He said with that smirk.

'Get out.'


	10. Chapter 10

_Oh God. Oh God. Oh God._ Elizabeth fell back onto the bed and put her head into her hands. _I am a terrible person. _Her whole being was shaken to the core with the knowledge that she had just been manipulated into an impossible position. It was her intention that she would be the one in control, but the tables had well and truly been turned. And she still hated him. Although she was beginning to become aware of a dormant attraction that had been deep within her. Which led to an altogether more awkward question. A question she was going to avoid for the time being.

Why did it have to be him? She'd lived like a glorified nun since arriving in Atlantis, eschewing all men in pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of paperwork. That was what she'd been convincing herself anyway. Breaking up with Simon had been relatively easy, if she was honest, and she'd just assumed that she had risen above crushes. Well, except for...no, that was irrelevant and she was avoiding that for the time being.

Her mind was filled with the memory of a glowing Lizzie and the way she had looked at Jonathan. Did she have an inkling of what he was really like? Some women were happy to go along with being treated like dirt in the name of love, but for Elizabeth, there was no way she could ever stand for that. It couldn't be treated for granted that Lizzie operated within the same emotions as she did. If Jonathan could be so different from John, then it followed that the same could apply for Lizzie and Elizabeth.

For the second time that evening a bell made her aware that somebody was at the door. As the sound reverberated around the room she jumped and pondered ignoring her visitor. She was still the leader of her team though and she had a duty, so wearily went over to the door and saw the same visitor from her previous interruption.

'Go away.' She said.

His face dropped and realisation hit her.

'John. I'm sorry, I thought you were...' She said, weakly.

He stepped into the room and hugged her, tentatively, obviously worried about her.

'Hey. Are you okay?' He asked.

She pulled away, 'I don't know.'

Looking concerned, John stroked her cheek delicately and pulled her over to the bed and sat beside her.

'Do you want to talk about it?' He asked.

Elizabeth looked up at him and noted the discomfort in his eyes. This definitely wasn't the person for having a meaningful conversation with about the kiss she had shared with Jonathan. Beyond the fact that it would raise a few uncomfortable questions about her feelings for him, there was no way John would enjoy listening to anybody reveal their innermost emotions. And yet, he was here. Worried about her and willing to listen, despite natural reservations.

'Bad day.' She admitted.

'You have bad days all the time.' John pointed out.

'True.'

'So what's so different about today?'

'John, I know you're trying to be nice, but you don't need to do this.'

'I said I'd take care of you.' He said, simply. 'You thought I was him and you told me to 'go away'.'

'Yes. After what happened today I'm not really in the mood for passing niceties.' She said, almost honestly.

Beside her, he nodded but didn't say a word. Elizabeth was struck by a feeling of contentment and companionship. This was John Sheppard. The John Sheppard who she'd endured so many of her most exhilarating life experiences with. He smelt good, she observed as the scent of shampoo and shaving foam mingled and reached her nose.

'I want to go home.' He said.

'Me too.'

'I could rough Rodney up a little bit, get him moving.' John suggested.

Elizabeth smiled, 'Meredith would probably throw you in a cell.'

'You'd get me out right?'

'He'd probably throw me in there with you if I tried, but sure.' Elizabeth smiled.

''Liz-'

'John-' They began at the same moment.

'Go on.' John said.

Elizabeth looked at him nervously, 'I just wanted to say thanks for being here.'

John smiled at her, 'Anytime.'

'You were going to say?' Elizabeth asked.

'It can wait. Just get some sleep.'

Without another word, John stood up to leave the room.

'Don't go.' She said, in a small voice.

John returned to her side, obediently and stroked back a strand of hair to look into her eyes. The sensation was incredibly pleasant, the sort of intimacy that she had never experienced with him before and that she was deeply aware she wanted experience again. This wouldn't do though. Not now. Not when she was already confused about her feelings for Jonathan.

'I don't know what to do John. Should I tell Lizzie?' She asked.

'It would break her heart.' John said.

'I just know he's done it before and he's going to do it again.' She admitted.

'Then why haven't you already told her?' He asked.

'I don't want to be responsible. She's pregnant.' Elizabeth said weakly.

'Would you want to know?'

'Yes.'

'Then you should tell her.'

'She's not me, John. No more than Jonathan is you. Looking in, it all looks so simple, Rodney and Meredith, Carson and Carson – they're all so alike. But are they really? Maybe we're just seeing what we expect to. And whilst I would want to know, does Lizzie?' Elizabeth asked, searchingly.

'Maybe not, but it's the right thing to do.'

'You're right.'

'Of course I am. I'm like a little Jiminy Cricket.'

'Okay John, let's not forget the number of little escapades you've enjoyed yourself.' Elizabeth said pointedly.

'I wouldn't cheat on you though.' He said, awkwardly.

'And on that note, I'm going to bed. Goodnight John.' Elizabeth said.


	11. Chapter 11

The following morning Elizabeth called a meeting with all of her staff. It hadn't escaped her notice that some of her team members, notably Rodney, were beginning to exhibit a somewhat impertinent manner and were acting without her go-ahead. It was time to take control of her team again.

'Good morning gentlemen. How are we all this morning?' Elizabeth asked.

Each of them muttered that they were well and then returned to the silence that had filled the room. It was undeniable. There was definitely something amiss here, tension of some sort.

'Is everything okay here?' Elizabeth asked.

'Just peachy.' Rodney said sardonically.

'Now don't you take that tone with Elizabeth.' Carson said, sitting up in his chair and glowering at Rodney.

'Here we go again.' Rodney said.

Further down the table, Zelenka began mumbling in Czech angrily. Completely bewildered, Elizabeth look at John for a sign that he knew what was going on here, but given the way he was frowning, he was as confused as she was.

'Do we have a problem?' Elizabeth asked.

'Do we?' Rodney sneered at Carson.

'Rodney.' Elizabeth warned.

'Yes, as a matter of fact, we do! You were out of order yesterday, son.' Carson said.

'Meredith is the leader here; I was merely showing my support for him.' Rodney said, smugly.

'That's what you call is it?' Carson said.

Elizabeth slammed her hand on the table and they all turned her look at her. Although her demeanour was relaxed and controlled, she was fuming. They had been left alone for one day and reverted into a bunch of squabbling kindergarten children.

'I will not have any member of this team throw insults around. Now I want you to tell me exactly what is going on here. Carson, you start.' She demanded.

'Well, as you know, Dr Beckett and I have been working on research which could prevent the Wraith from needing to feed,' He looked uneasily at Rodney, 'Well we bloody were until yesterday! Meredith came in and humiliated Dr Beckett, accused him of neglecting his patients in front of the whole infirmary which is untrue! And then Rodney laid all of the blame on me and...and...implied I was unprofessional!'

Elizabeth looked up to see angry tears in Carson's eyes, and looked across at Rodney just in time to see him rolling his eyes.

'Is this true?' Elizabeth asked Rodney.

'I merely pointed out that Carson may have been putting a little pressure on their Doctor Beckett.' Rodney said.

'For the sake of billions of people at home!' Carson said.

'Whilst Rodney sits around all day with Meredith stroking his ego.' Zelenka said.

'This is ridiculous! Have you heard yourselves? Rodney you assured me that this mission was crucial to our developments in Atlantis, but as far as I can see, your pig-headedness is becoming a severe obstacle to this. From today, I want you to ensure your undivided attention is focused on getting us back home. No more long lunches with Meredith. No more undermining my leadership. Do you understand?' Elizabeth asked.

'I suppose – yes.' Rodney said, unwillingly.

'Thank you. Now feel free to go off and do whatever it is you need to do.' Elizabeth said.

Three of the men shuffled out of the room looking even more frustrated than when they had arrived. Begrudgingly, Rodney had at least accepted the order to work on the device which it seemed he had been neglecting. All she could think of was getting away from this place as soon as possible.

'Wow. That was fun.' John said.

'I can't believe how they're behaving. It would be funny if it wasn't so...'

'Pathetic?'

Elizabeth smiled and looked up at him.

'You okay?' She asked.

'Fine. You?'

'Fine.'

'Breakfast?' He asked hopefully.

'Yes please.'

With nothing else to fill their day, and after a day of hardly eating, Elizabeth had two portions of a variation of bacon and eggs, much to John's amusement. As she looked across at him, Elizabeth became rather preoccupied with the small spread of chest hair that was just peeping through his shirt. A shirt. Although the rest of the team had remained in their uniforms, John had opted for more casual wear, and a white shirt and jeans were his choice for today. Given the appreciative glances in his direction, including the odd one from Elizabeth, it certainly worked in his favour. Mindlessly, Elizabeth wondered whether she should take the opportunity to dress down for a couple of days, with jeans and a tank top buried in the bottom of the bag she had brought with her.

'Morning.'

Elizabeth looked up, very much aware of her racing heart, as Jonathan cockily walked passed them. Although she desperately wanted to avert her eyes away from him, she couldn't help but watch him saunter across the room. And she couldn't help but notice the way that Laura Cadman returned his smile with a dirty look worthy of awards. Just the day before, she had been happily chatting and flirting with him. Elizabeth was suddenly struck by a thought, and continued to watch Laura even when Jonathan had left the room. Sure enough, Cadman angrily slid her chair out and marched to the doorway which Jonathan had just exited through. Mimicking her actions, Elizabeth gave John an excuse then set off to follow Laura.

The route they were taking, took them to the far edges of the city which were barely used at home. Granted, it couldn't be assumed that the same applied here, but Elizabeth had a feeling that it did. When they had walked as far as they could, Elizabeth stayed behind a corner as she heard the sound of a slap across the face.

'Come on L.' Jonathan said.

'Don't call me that! I've had it with you.' Laura shouted

'You know you want me.' He whispered seductively.

'Go back to Lizzie.' Laura said.

'All of this over one kiss?' Jonathan asked, sounding exasperated.

'Yes! Because you told me you loved me, that you were only staying with Lizzie until the baby was born...I just can't take the lies anymore!' Laura shrieked.

Safely hidden behind the corner, Elizabeth heard another slap which was followed by the sound on footsteps. Elizabeth quickly hid in a toilet now wanting to be caught eavesdropping quite yet. She pressed her ear to the door, and waited until a set of footsteps had passed. When they had, she let herself out and walked straight into Jonathan who she pushed back into the exact place where he had been slapped by his lover just seconds previously.

'You bastard.' She said.

'Aah.' He said, realisation hitting him.

'Aren't you even going to defend yourself?'

'That depends on how much you heard.'

'Enough to know that it's happened before and that it's going to happen again.' She said raising her voice.

He pushed her against the wall and put his hand over her mouth, which she violently pulled away.

'Keep your voice down.' He hissed.

'I'm sorry, do you not want people finding out that you are cheating on the mother of your child?' Elizabeth said.

'It isn't like that.' He said, angrily.

'Then how is it?' She demanded.

'I'm not in love with Lizzie; I never was and I never wanted to have a baby with her.'

'How can you say that?'

'Because it's true, and you know that; we're not right for each other. You and I, on the other hand...' Jonathan said huskily.

Her eyes widened in shock, 'What?'

'Come on 'Lizabeth, we were both there last night.' He whispered.

Suddenly, he ran his hands through her hair and pulled her into him, kissing her passionately. She struggled against him before lust overcame her and she allowed herself to kiss him back. His hands were beginning to move towards her trousers, when his body suddenly pulled away from hers and she opened her eyes to see John Sheppard punching himself. Pulling back, John shook his wrist slightly, before turning to grab the material of Elizabeth's jacket and frogmarching her down the corridor, and then through the city, only letting go to shove her into his quarters.

'What they hell are you playing at?' He asked, rounding on her.

'Oh God.' She said, the reality finally hitting her.

'Seriously, what are you playing at?'

'He kissed me and I...I couldn't...'

'Resist? Did you sleep with him last night?' John said, piercing her with his eyes.

'What?'

'Don't play it innocent, I heard. And I saw the state you were in last night.' He said.

The menacing way in which he was pacing the room was beginning to panic her. Never in the time she had known him, had she seen him so angry, almost shaking with it.

'We kissed.' Elizabeth admitted.

'Why?'

'What?' Elizabeth was suddenly confused.

'Why did you kiss him?' He asked in a low voice.

'This doesn't concern you, John.' She said, making to walk away.

He stepped nearer to her, and grabbed both of her arms, preventing her from leaving. He stared into her eyes searchingly.

'Is it because he reminds you of me?' He asked.

'John.' She warned.

'Is it because he reminds you of me?' He sounded more urgent this time.

'Stop it.'

'I need an answer.' He said desperately.

'YES!'

Unruffled, by the way she had just screamed at him, he kissed her violently, keeping his hands on her arms and roughly pushing her onto the bed where he urgently began pulling at her clothes. Recovering from the shock, she reached for the buckle of his belt.

**A/N: Reviews would be much appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

When Elizabeth awoke the next morning, she was surprised to feel two rather hairy legs embroiled with her own with it being so long since she'd slept with a man. On opening her eyes and seeing the sleeping face of John Sheppard, the surprise was replaced by a rather sweet feeling of contentment. To be there with him after all of this time...it was, well, it certainly wasn't expected.

As much as she had tried not to admit it to herself, Elizabeth had been falling in love with John Sheppard for a long time now, the only thing prohibiting her from doing so fully was the certainty that he would never return her feelings. Although, now it seemed that he did, things could get very complicated.

It struck her that she and John had become what Lizzie and Jonathan had always expected and, perhaps in Jonathan's case, suspected. If, and that was a big if, things were to develop into something long-term, could she ever trust John based on what she had seen?

Beside her, John opened his eyes and smiled slightly before rolling onto his back and checking his watch.

'It's late.' He commented.

'Yes.' Elizabeth agreed.

'Hope they haven't sent out a search party.'

'That would mean leaving their other selves.'

'Good point.'

They were making small talk because neither of them knew what to say – there were plenty of things they _wanted _to say, questions that they wanted to ask, but both were too scared of the answer they might be faced with. And John really didn't do 'talking' when it came to emotional matters – Elizabeth had realised this a long time ago.

John sat up in the bed and reached for his t-shirt and boxers. As he was pulling his t-shirt over his head he looked across at her nervously.

'We should probably get out of here before people get suspicious.' He said gruffly.

'Err, yes, you're right.'

Elizabeth began reaching for her own clothes and dressed, feeling entirely more self-conscious than she had the previous night. When they were both ready, John checked to make sure nobody was around they made their way down to the mess hall to get breakfast without saying a word to each other.

Given his reaction to her since waking up, Elizabeth was beginning to worry that the whole thing had been a big mistake for him and that he was trying to let her down gently; which was very courteous of him given the rumours she had heard but been trying to ignore. There was still the little matter of Jonathan and Lizzie as well – her (could she really call him that?) John knew now that she had kissed him, twice. She had to tell Lizzie; something that she was really not looking forward to given that Lizzie clearly adored John, and was pregnant, and, of course, there was her own involvement in the matter.

'I have to go and tell Lizzie.' Elizabeth said sadly.

John looked up at her, 'Do you?'

'Yes.' She said, adamantly.

'If we had never come here, she would be none the wiser.' John pointed out.

'But we are here John and I can't let him do this to her anymore; she's a good person. A better person than me.'

'You're under a lot of stress.' John said, weakly.

'That doesn't excuse what I did John. I have to do this.'

Resolutely, Elizabeth stood up and walked across the mess hall, passing Jonathan in the process. She tried not to look at him, but her eyes flickered to him for one second and saw the smirk he was throwing her way and something snapped. Without thinking, she grabbed the glass of water that was sat in front of him and tipped it into his crotch. Immediately he stood up in shock and squared up to her.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' He asked.

'The right thing.'

'Pouring water down my crotch?'

'Much-needed respite, no doubt.' Elizabeth said cuttingly.

On witnessing this scene, John had half-ran across the hall to stand beside Elizabeth, which seemed to amuse Jonathan even more.

'Real Knight in Shining Armour aren't you? Or maybe you're just jealous?' He said maliciously.

'I suggest you shut your mouth now.' Elizabeth warned.

Jonathan continued to stare at John, 'Must really rile you – you've been working at her for two years, she's only known me for a couple of days and she can't keep away.'

Unable to control himself any longer, John launched at Jonathan with a punch to the stomach, who responded by dragging him into the table as he fell and landing a punch of equal force into John's face. Elizabeth stepped forward to try and break up the fight but was pulled away by a marine. She shouted out to John in an attempt to reason with him, but they were both baying for blood and nobody in the world other than Sheppard mattered to either of them.

'Jonathan!' A panicked voice screamed.

Dumb-struck, Elizabeth turned to see Lizzie running into the room clearly beside herself with worry. She muscled herself through the crowd and reached to touch Jonathan's shoulder. Immediately he swung round, irately, not realising her identity and knocked her onto the ground, but retreating away from the fight the second her realised his mistake.

'Lizzie.' He said.

He rushed over to her and crouched down beside her fragile body, grasping at her hand to pull her into a seat.

'What's going on?' Lizzie asked.

Both John's looked at each other and then shiftily looked away.

'How can you be fighting each other; you're the same person?' She asked.

Elizabeth stepped forward, 'They're not the same person Lizzie.'

Lizzie looked up at her with confusion.

'I'm sorry that I'm the one to that has to you this -' Elizabeth began.

'Don't you dare – I will tell her.' Jonathan warned.

Elizabeth ignored him and continued to look at Lizzie's innocent, gentle face.

'Jonathan has been having an affair, and has pursued at least two other women while we've been here.'

Lizzie shook her head, 'No.'

'I'm sorry.' Elizabeth said.

Lizzie stood up, 'Just because you two can't be together doesn't give you the right to ruin our relationship!'

'I'm telling the truth. I know, because one of the women was me.' Elizabeth said, looking away.

Hearing this, Lizzie looked shaken and reached to steady herself on the chair.

'He must have confused us...' She said.

'He knew it was me.'

'You're wrong.' Lizzie whimpered.

'She's telling the truth – I saw them kiss.' John said, stepping forward.

As the shock of this news hit Lizzie, she steadied herself and slapped Elizabeth.

'Stay away from him, you bitch! Thought you'd have a go at my Jonathan because you can't get your own – you make me sick.'

'I don't have any excuses, but you have to know that I am genuinely sorry and that I am doing this for you. He's been having an affair with Laura Cadman.' Elizabeth said.

'No!' A Scottish and American accent rang out simultaneously.

All eyes in the room were on their Carson as he marched into through the people to surrounding people to throw a punch at Jonathan which was easily avoided.

'You told me I was being paranoid! I went to you as a friend!' Carson said.

Gasps and whispers broke out around the room as an unaware Laura Cadman strolled into the room. She looked up to see the sight in front of her, realisation dawning on her as Carson sobbed. Laura's reaction seemed to be the settling factor for Lizzie as she began to pound Jonathan chest, her own sobs covering the sound of Carson who had collapsed into a chair with grief. When Elizabeth had decided to tell Lizzie, this really was not the way she wanted things to pan out.

As Laura finally fought through the crowd to Carson, the sets of eyes in the room struggled to decide on the most exciting scene to witness, with voices cheering on Lizzie as she continued to attack Jonathan, and soothing tones offering support to Carson. All of this was silenced the second that Lizzie's waters broke.


	13. Chapter 13

'I'm not ready. Oh God.' Lizzie said.

Seeing that Lizzie looked as though she was going to faint, Elizabeth dashed forward and guided her into a seat. Nobody else moved an inch; not even the prospective father. Despite everything that had happened in the last few minutes, Lizzie gripped Elizabeth's hand and stared up to her for guidance.

'Carson.' Elizabeth shouted.

Elizabeth looked through the crowds for him, and eventually located him sat on the floor with his head in his hands. This was her fault, she thought sadly. If she could just find somebody who could help – Carson. Her Carson.

'John I need you to find Carson – our Carson. And I need somebody to get a medical team in here now.' She said.

Taking her orders, John left the room and the crowd began to back away as Lizzie cried out in pain, leaving Elizabeth alone to support Lizzie.

'How far gone are you?' She asked.

A look of worry came into Lizzie's eye, 'I'm not full term; thirty six weeks.'

'And the pregnancy has been healthy?'

'Yes – no problems at all.'

'I've requested our Carson to come, is that okay?'

'I just want my baby to be okay.' Lizzie said, on the verge of tears.

'Our Carson is a fantastic Doctor and a very caring man – he will do everything to make sure both you and the baby are okay.'

Lizzie's nodded at Elizabeth and held onto her bump as if she thought it would help protect the baby. Seeking to reassure her, Elizabeth continued to hold onto her hand and stroke her hair whilst anxiously looking for Carson to appear. Other people had clearly recovered their shock and were starting to offer to locate Meredith which Elizabeth didn't exactly relish, but agreed anyway.

Thankfully, Carson managed to make it into the mess hall before Meredith with his medical bag and immediately set about checking Lizzie's blood pressure and getting her into a more comfortable position in the floor, all the whilst soothing the clearly terrified Lizzie. Surreptitiously, John who had witnessed Elizabeth's own panic, slipped his hand into hers. She looked at him and was struck by a massive desire to feel his arms around her. It was a desire she didn't give into though – things really didn't need making any more complicated at this moment in time.

Soon after Carson arrived, a medical team turned up with a trolley and Lizzie was taken to the infirmary. Jonathan followed with his head hanging and given that their Carson had already been escorted to his quarters to recover, the crowds left and went back to their work. Meredith marched into the room, with Rodney following like his shadow and then immediately marched back out when he realised that there was nothing to see here and, on Rodney's advice, went to the infirmary.

Now they were alone, John turned to face Elizabeth and, uncharacteristically, gave Elizabeth the hug she had so been longing for. She buried her head into his chest and held him tightly.

It was almost ten at night when Elizabeth received a message to go down to the infirmary. The news that Lizzie had given birth to a healthy baby boy had circulated the city and Elizabeth couldn't have been happier for Lizzie who had lost so much but gained far more. Begrudgingly, she was even pleased for Jonathan who she hoped would learn from this to step up and be a good father.

She quietly opened the door to the private room where Mummy and Baby Weir were residing and smiled as she saw Lizzie cradling her son and took a seat. Lizzie looked at Elizabeth and smiled gently before looking back at her son. Elizabeth copied her action and saw that he had certainly taken after his father with his spiky black hair and his mother with his milky white skin.

'He's perfect,' Elizabeth observed.

Lizzie looked at her again, 'I know. I wanted to thank you for helping when I went into labour, I can see why you make such a fantastic leader. And I wanted to thank you for telling me about Jonathan.'

Lizzie quickly looked away again.

'I never meant to hurt you.' Elizabeth admitted.

Lizzie laughed, 'Well it did hurt, but I'm glad I know.'

'Has he been to see – what have you called the baby?'

'Andrew. After our -'

'Father.' Elizabeth said.

They exchanged a poignant look. Elizabeth's father had died when she was just ten years old after crashing his snow mobile. He had been the most caring and devoted father imaginable during his time and Elizabeth still missed him to this day. It was good for her to know that his memory would go on.

'Jonathan was here when he was born. I think Andrew is the only person that he's ever really loved and I'm glad of that.'

'That's good.' Elizabeth said approvingly.

'You kissed him.' Lizzie said with a faint pang of hurt in her voice.

'I did.' Elizabeth said sadly.

'And is it because of John – your John? Lizzie asked.

'I think so.'

Elizabeth looked uneasily across at Lizzie, who looked so open and wasn't judging her. After everything that happened she was still there, talking to her and trying to help. She's twice the person that I am, Elizabeth thought to herself. And she knew that this was the one person who would understand her feelings for John which is why she was so tempted to tell her.

'I slept with him last night.' She admitted.

Momentarily, Lizzie looked shocked, but quickly covered this up and looked searchingly at Elizabeth.

'Is this because of Jonathan?'

'Sort of – I've been so confused about John, and then he – Jonathan – came along, and opened up this side to me that I didn't even realise existed and all the feelings I have for John just came to the fore. The crazy thing is I don't even like Jonathan.' Elizabeth laughed.

'Do you want to be with him?'

'Yes – no. I don't know. I love him, at least, I think I do, but my job, it's just so demanding. I don't think I have the time to be in a relationship at the moment.'

'John is probably the only person in the world who appreciates just how demanding your job is, if you want it to work, it can.'

She was right, and deep down, Elizabeth knew that the thing that was preventing her from taking things any further with John was her. And him, a little bit. From what she knew of him, he wasn't big on commitment and a bit of a player. Could she ever be enough for him? And, more to the point, could she ever trust him? With so many questions playing on her mind, Elizabeth said goodbye to Lizzie and kissed Andrew on the head before heading to John's quarters in search of the answers.


	14. Chapter 14

As she left the private room, Elizabeth was very conscious of an eerie silence which had descended over the normally bustling infirmary. The personnel that were on duty were going on with their work as though they were merely shadows and even the patients weren't kicking up the fuss which her infirmary was faced with on a daily basis. At home Elizabeth would have asked what was going on, but somehow it felt intrusive here and she continued on to John's quarters.

Again, as she was walking through the city she was struck by the vacant expressions on many people's faces and when people thought she wasn't looking, she even observed the odd dirty look in her direction. It seemed apparent that people weren't easily going to forgive the scene she had caused in the mess hall. Even she didn't forgive the scene she had caused in the hall, she could never have anticipated that Doctor Beckett would be there and that Lizzie would go into labour, potentially putting Andrew's life at risk. All that trained diplomacy and political skill had been thrown out of the window, as she knew it would if her emotions really became involved in an issue. It was partly for this reason that she had been avoiding her feelings for John for so long.

When she reached his door, she took a deep breath and slid her hand over the bell. The door was immediately opened to reveal John who looked surprised to see her. She stepped into his room and was immediately greeted by Rodney lying on John's bed. The very bed where she and John had...it didn't bare thinking about.

'Oh hey Elizabeth.' Rodney said in a downbeat tone.

Elizabeth looked over at John for some sort of explanation.

'Him and Meredith have had a bit of a tiff.' John said with a roll of the eyes.

Elizabeth smiled slightly and sat down on the small space that was left of the bed.

'Not as perfect as you first thought?' She asked, trying to sound sincere.

'I don't want to talk about it.' Rodney said, turning over away from her and John.

Elizabeth looked up at John and grinned at Rodney's petulance. Even if she hadn't quite achieved what she came for, at least her spirits had been raised slight, though it was at Rodney's expense. Secretly, she was glad that things weren't going as smoothly with Meredith – hopefully it would mean he'd be back on her side.

'Anyway, I just came to see you were doing okay.' Elizabeth lied as she stood up.

'How are Lizzie and the baby?' John asked.

'Well. Both of them.' Elizabeth said with a smile.

With that, she left the room and headed towards her own quarters. It could wait until morning after all. She flopped down onto her bed and was struggling to get to sleep when a persistent ringing emitted from her door. Hurriedly, she ran over to it, worries of a Wraith attack circulating her mind. She opened it to see John. Crying. She immediately let him fall into her arms and guided him on the bed, where he sat with his head in his hands.

'What is it?' She asked nervously.

She had never seen John like this, so clearly raw and hurting, not even when Aiden Ford had left.

'Carson – he's dead.' He said.

**A/N: Sorry for such a short chapter – it is leading up to more excitement. **


	15. Chapter 15

The arm which had been stroking John's back dropped immediately and her eyes filled with tears. She had seen him just a couple of hours ago, elated that he had managed to deliver a healthy baby boy. The last time she would ever see him, he had been doing what he had always done so brilliantly and selflessly; saving somebody's life. A singly tear trickled down her cheek.

'How?' She asked in a strained voice.

John looked at her, his hazel eyes full of hurt. 'He committed suicide.'

The whole of Elizabeth's insides felt hollow as she absorbed the enormity of this. That he, Carson, the wonderful, smiling man that he was could have felt driven to this...she should have been there for him, been a better leader – she had no idea that he was so unhappy. Everybody has always expected Carson to be there to heel them, had anybody ever really stopped to ask if Carson was the one who needed looking after?

'This is my fault,' John sobbed, 'if I'd just stayed away from Laura.'

The tears that were spilling from Elizabeth's eyes stopped immediately and she stood up, facing Jonathan in an accusatory manner.

'Jonathan?' She demanded.

He looked up confused, 'I though you realised.'

'You think I would welcome you into my quarters after everything that has happened?'

He looked sheepish, 'I thought you felt sorry for me.'

And even though she knew he didn't deserve it, she did. Seeing him so pathetic, guilt-ridden and clearly remorseful, she still wanted to put her arm around his shoulders and make it a little bit better. Or maybe that is what she would want to do for her John.

'I'm sorry. For everybody – he was a good man.' Elizabeth said.

'The best.' Jonathan said, sniffing.

Elizabeth sat down again and held his hand.

'Jonathan, you can't lay all of the blame for this on yourself – Laura's betrayal was equally, if not more so, heartbreaking and if it wasn't for me this would never have happened.' Elizabeth admitted.

'And if I hadn't been messing around with his girlfriend you would never have had anything to tell Lizzie. I should be on that slab – not him.' Jonathan said, depressively.

'How can you say that? You have so much to live for. You have a beautiful son who is going to need his Dad and if anything comes from this tragedy then you have to realise just how sacred life is, how sacred your son's life is.' Elizabeth urged.

Hearing this, Jonathan seemed to overcome his melancholy slightly and there was a new look of tenderness in his eyes. A look which made Elizabeth flutter and fluster in equal measures. He positioned his body so he was facing her and stroked a curl away from her eyes, touching her cheek gently.

'It's a shame.' He said wistfully.

'What's a shame?' She asked in almost a whisper.

'I could really have loved you Doctor Weir with the two PhDs.' He said.

Elizabeth blushed and smiled, 'Jonathan, I have no doubt you could love any female who gave you requisite attention.'

'I'm serious.'

'If that's the case and I strongly advise that you put all of that excess love into caring for your son – you never know, you might surprise a few people.'

Jonathan chuckled and kissed her gently on the lips before standing up and making his way towards the door, leaving with a final regretful smile. When the door slid behind him, Elizabeth shook her head at his admission certain that he had only experienced such feelings in the confusion of finding somebody who would actually support him in this. Out in the city, Jonathan was almost certainly being shunned by everybody. All she could do was pray that Lizzie would allow Jonathan the opportunity to find comfort in his son.

Outside she could hear Meredith's raising his voice and her door slid open. He stood before her, irately, surrounded by marines.

'Get her into a cell.' He ordered.

Elizabeth started to protest, but was lifted off her feet by two burly marines. Her possessions were ransacked and sealed in plastic bags and she herself been gagged with tape. This was bad. In fact, this was terrible. If Meredith had turned against her, the chances of them getting home in the next few days were minimal. And although she was dragged through the city rather violently, and in public view, not one person stopped to protest against this, despite the odd sympathetic look.

When they finally arrived at the cell, she was not entirely surprised to see the rest of her team already there shouting angrily at Meredith's treatment of her. They stopped and a marine ripped the tape from her mouth before shoving her violently into the cell, the bars sliding closed behind her. Meredith stepped up to the bars, cruelty in his eyes.

'Hopefully you can't do any more damage if you're locked in here. Sleep well.'

With this, he turned and exited the room, taking the two marines with him. The team, lost for words, gradually took seats around the cell, trying not to look at each other and admit what they were all thinking.

'That's it. We're stuck here forever.'

Rodney McKay ruined that silent agreement.


	16. Chapter 16

In the immediate aftermath of being abandoned in a cell, Rodney had completely fallen apart ranting about the death penalty and all other sorts of bizarre outcomes which Elizabeth had stopped paying attention to after a while. His ranting had soon calmed down though when they had been delivered some stale sandwiches, and he was now sleeping under his jacket on the floor with morning approaching. Beside him, Carson and Radek had also managed to nod off in the early hours of the morning.

Although she had tried to get some information from the guards and requested a meeting with Meredith, she was met with a frosty silence in return and had soon retreated to far corner of the cell and sat down, with her knees pulled into her chest. At some point during the night, John came over and sat beside her, taking her hand and not letting it go. They didn't say a word to each other the entire time they were sat together, but it helped. It helped more than he realised.

Somehow, she blamed herself. Although Meredith hadn't seen the scene she had created in the mess, word must have got around. And now their Carson was dead and she could never forgive herself. This is why she had never allowed her heart to rule her head – all diplomacy went out of the window.

At eight o'clock, Meredith made a dramatic entrance, flanked by several marines, as if they could even escape and demanded that Elizabeth be taken for interrogation. At this, she had to roll her eyes. His ridiculously over the top style was making what should be a desperate situation somewhat farcical.

She was escorted by a marine to Meredith's office and was shoved into the seat across from the desk. Meredith sat across from her, nonchalantly chewing on a pastry.

'I have a proposition for you.' He said, with a smile.

'Really?' She said, dubiously.

'Yes, a rather fair proposition given the havoc you have caused.'

'I'm all ears.'

'I am willing to let you go, return to your city. On one condition,' Meredith said, pausing for effect, 'you will leave your Doctor Beckett behind.'

'No. Absolutely not, Doctor McKay.' She said.

'Then you will remain in that cell until you come to your senses. And if you haven't reached a decision – the correct decision – by the end of today then I will throw Colonel Sheppard into the deal as well.'

'What right do you - ?' She began, angrily.

'I am fully within my rights Doctor Weir. It must be lovely for you, the Daedalus dropping by every couple of weeks. We don't have that. You, Doctor Weir have killed my Chief Medical Officer and have half the military refusing to serve under Major Sheppard. I am reclaiming what you owe us.'

'I am sorry for the death of Doctor Beckett, I really am, and for the way things have turned out with Jonathan, but if you think you can take my men then you are mistaken.' She said.

'Then I think I have said all I need to say. I want your decision by six o'clock.' He said, nodding to a marine.

As she was dragged through the city, she came across Jonathan who looked appalled to see the way she was being treated and tried to reason with the marine, but Meredith had clearly been right and they no longer bowed to his command. As if Meredith could just expect her John to step into the breach and for everything to be okay though...it was just preposterous.

When she was returned to the cell, her team looked on her with hopeful smiles which faded as the cell was slammed closed behind her. This was going to be even harder than facing Meredith.

'Well that was fruitless.' She said sadly.

'What did he say?' Rodney said, sitting up from his slumped position.

Elizabeth looked hesitantly at Carson, unsure of how he was going to take Meredith's proposition. A small part of her suspected he may accept it, in an attempt to save his friends, but there was absolutely no way she was going to allow him to sacrifice himself like that. They were a team, and they were going to remain that way, even if it meant being locked in a cell in a parallel universe.

'Meredith said we can go, on the condition that we leave Carson behind. So we're staying.'

'He said what?' John asked angrily.

'And if I don't bow to his demands by six, he wants you too.' She said.

John looked slightly confused by this, 'What use would I be?'

'The military are refusing to serve under Jonathan.'

'That makes a change from everybody wanting to be under him.' John muttered.

Given the worrying situation, she let this deliberate dig at her pass. With everything that had happened, she had completely forgotten that they still hadn't resolved 'them' yet. Clearly, he was still mad about what had happened between her and Jonathan and it wasn't as though they could they could get together and talk things out at the moment. And they still hadn't discussed their own moment of unprofessionalism the other night.

'I'll stay.' Carson said.

'That's very valiant of you Carson, but I won't allow that to happen.'

'We don't leave people behind.' Rodney said.

Carson looked genuinely touched by this and nodded, accepting that there was no way that they would allow him to do such a thing. As he awkwardly hugged Rodney for being so supportive, the marines who had been guarding them since last night were replaced by Cadman and Ford, which sparked an angered response from Carson.

'Do you know what you've done lassie?' He said to Laura.

Seeing him clearly affected Laura more than she had expected and she immediately burst into tears when she met his eyes. With an angry look in Carson's direction, Ford went to hug the grieving woman.

'You might want to lay off her Carson. We're here to save your butts.' Ford said cuttingly.

A/N: I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. All of the support and reviews are really appreciated and I am going to try and get this story finished as soon as possible.


	17. Chapter 17

'What do you mean?' John asked, warily.

Although Aiden was cradling Laura in his arms, he managed to raise a finger to his nose and tap it with a cheeky grin. Inwardly Elizabeth groaned; for a second she had allowed herself to hope, but this was clearly some 'adventure' to Aiden – one that he wasn't taking seriously.

'Our lives are at stake here!' Rodney yelled, irrationally.

But Aiden continued to grin in that satisfied way and Rodney angrily scrunched his jacket up and threw it on the floor before flouncing down and resting his head on it, his back to the rest of them. In the midst of her sleepless, frustrated mood, Elizabeth had a small urge to scream at him for being so childish and petulant, but it would have been hypocritical and she just about had enough patience left. At this stage, it wasn't being kept prisoner that was driving her mad, it was watching Rodney devolve into a seven year old. She dreaded to think what Meredith was going to do when she told him where to go again at six.

The more she thought about Meredith, the angrier she found herself. Who was he to take them hostage and make the demands that he had? And how had anybody thought this egotistical, sociopath was the right man to lead an expedition? He was pretty much irremovable too, given that they had no IOA on their backs or, as Meredith put it, 'the Daedalus dropping by every couple of weeks'. They could swap for a week; he'd soon be begging to come back if he didn't get kicked out first.

The team had all sat down on the floor, the way they had spent the previous evening and she followed suit, not wanting to draw attention to herself. It was strange, she had always wanted the opportunity to sit down and get to know all of the people in this room better, and yet she had barely uttered a word to them. Somehow it didn't feel suitable for her to start asking Radek about his college days. It didn't feel suitable to do anything other than sit around in a melancholy state the way the rest of her team were doing; she should be 'rallying the troops', doing anything to keep them sane, but she knew that they were intelligent men who wouldn't buy fakes smiles and promises that everything was going to be okay.

'I spy with my little eye...' John said, half-heartedly.

Elizabeth looked over at him and smiled at his attempt to find something that would drag them out of their moods.

'Prison? Cell? No food?' Rodney said, through gritted teeth.

'I can try and get you some food.' Ford offered.

'Please do.' John said, looking at Rodney.

Ford left the room with a grin at John, leaving Laura wiping her tears and determinedly staring at anything other than the cell directly in front of her. This had no doubt been Meredith's idea of punishment – forcing her to stand there and look at the man who she clearly felt responsible for the death of. On hearing that food could be on its way, Rodney had sat up and they were now able to look at the misery in his face.

'You know, part me hopes he doesn't bring anything back just to see your reaction.' John commented.

'And I suppose you think that's funny?' Rodney asked.

'That depends if he brings food or not.' Sheppard hit back.

'Leave it.' Elizabeth said to John.

'Don't 'leave it'. You know, everything was going fine until you two screwed up.' Rodney said.

'Rodney.' Carson warned.

'Don't pretend you haven't been thinking it. While us three have been working our backsides off, you two have been swanning around, starting fights, sleeping with men who are taken and now we're paying the price.' He hissed.

Well, they were certainly talking now.

'I can't recall sleeping with any men since I've been here.' Sheppard commented in a light tone.

'I'm talking about her. I mean seriously Elizabeth, what were you thinking?' Rodney asked with more than a hint of disgust in his voice.

'I haven't slept with Jonathan.' Elizabeth said.

But a blush rose to her cheeks as she considered the technicality that this was based on. She had slept with a _version _of him, but he was missing 'athan' on the end of his name. Convinced that she was lying, Rodney rolled his eyes with revulsion and she was glad that he didn't know about what had happened between her and John. He'd get at least another five minutes ranting out of that.

'We need to stick together; if we can just get out of here we can activate the Stargate and forget this ever happened.' Radek said.

'Once we get the device going.' Carson said, sadly.

'But the device is ready, I thought McKay...' Radek said.

They all looked over to see the expression of anger on McKay's face mangled with guilt. The deceit cut through her.

'You son of a bitch McKay.' Sheppard said angrily, 'After everything you just said, the reason that we are all stuck here is because of you.'

'I'm sorry.' He said, not managing to meet any of their eyes.

'Sorry doesn't cut it McKay. If we ever get out of here I am sending you straight back to Earth.' Elizabeth yelled.

For the first time in her life she had reached breaking point. She was more hurt than she would ever care to let on to McKay. All those years spent building a working relationship - a friendship, were ruined, just like that. She had known that he was playing for time, desperate to work alongside Meredith for as long as he could, but for him to know that the device was ready, that they could go home with knowledge acquired and not tell them...she was disgusted with him.

'How could you Rodney?' Carson asked, searchingly.

'I didn't know that Meredith would turn on us!' Rodney said.

'Really? I'm pretty sure that if you search deep enough you'll realise that that's exactly what you have done to us.' Sheppard said.

'You have done some despicable things Rodney, but this is the worst of all of them.' Radek said, shaking his head.

'I'm sorry! I really am. If I could turn back time, which admittedly isn't possible given...'

'Just shut the hell up!' John shouted.

'Hey guys.' Jonathan said.

Elizabeth looked up to see him entering the cell with Ford closely following with sandwiches which he happily handed out to all of them.

'What are you doing here?' She asked.

'I've come to tell you about our little plan.' He said.

'Some good news at last. What is it?' Elizabeth asked.

'Basically, we're going to sedate Meredith in his sleep, stash him in a storage closet, put your McKay in his place and get you all home.' Jonathan said smugly.

'And Plan B is?' John asked.

'What's wrong with our plan?' Jonathan asked.

'Nothing is wrong with the plan – just the person that it involves. It turns out that our Doctor McKay isn't the person that we thought he was.' Elizabeth explained.

'Meredith?' Jonathan said, disbelievingly.

'In the metaphorical sense,' Elizabeth smiled.

'I want to do it.' Rodney said, standing up with a look of determination.

'So you can fill Meredith in, no doubt.' John said.

'No. I know that I can never really repair the damage that I have done, but the least I can do is help get you guys out of here.' Rodney said.

'That's very admirable Rodney.' Elizabeth said.

He was finally able to meet her eyes and smiled sadly at her. Maybe he was genuinely sorry after all.


	18. Chapter 18

Although Jonathan had been confident that their plan would have them home within a couple of hours, putting it into practice was proving a _lot _trickier than he had initially expected, which didn't particularly come as a surprise to Elizabeth. Not only was Meredith going to all efforts to ensure that Jonathan was an outcast in Atlantis, but the security that Meredith had arranged for the 'prisoners' meant that it was practically impossible for them to communicate with Jonathan's team.

The only benefit she could see in this not so totally unexpected delay was that the tension between her team and Rodney had eased ever so slightly. Undeniably, there were still some simmering resentments – especially with John and Radek – but after the way he had immediately volunteered himself to help save them, Elizabeth's anger had subsided for the most part. More than the others she was almost able to see why Rodney had held back in telling them that they could leave, and attributed some of the blame to herself, knowing that she had been much too wrapped up in the mess that she had made to check in with her team and be the leader that she knew she should have been.

At six o'clock, she had been 'escorted' to Meredith's office where she had, once again, given him the answer that they both knew he would receive, and most certainly didn't want, and after being belittled and sneered at, she was sent away with the promised new deal on the table, and a worrying prospective in front of her; she had no choice but to place her trust in Jonathan and hope that he could somehow get them out of here unscathed.

'You know, I don't understand why Meredith doesn't want me.' Rodney commented, when Elizabeth had returned and filled them in about her meeting.

'I do.' John muttered.

For this, Elizabeth gave John a pointed glare, and he managed to tear his own eyes away from Rodney to take the hint and resume his pacing around the cell. Elizabeth sighed as she watched him, knowing how much she wanted and needed to talk to him about what happened. It was never going to be possible in these circumstances, and she wasn't even sure what she wanted to achieve from _that _conversation. When she thought about, she realised that John _did _feel the same way; as much as his brash attitude when they had woken up together had immediately convinced her otherwise, she remembered the way he had reacted to the thought of her with Jonathan and she just _knew. _Not that that made this any easier for her; a full-blown relationship with her second-in-command – and a second in command with a rather dubious reputation at that – had potentially disastrous consequences, and they would undoubtedly have the IOA breathing down their backs at every turn. Still...she couldn't quite shake off the feeling in the pit of her stomach that was pushing her to take the risk.

As night-time in the cell approached them again, Elizabeth found herself drawn to John as she had done the previous night and eventually settled beside him, their arms gently touching. This time, John chose to break the silence between them.

'You okay?' John whispered gently.

'As well as can be given the circumstances.' Elizabeth admitted.

'Do you think Jonathan's gonna get us out of this mess?' John asked tentatively.

Elizabeth hesitated, before smiling at John, 'At the moment, I don't have a choice.'

John looked at her for a moment before nodding and turning to focus his eyes into nothingness again. She didn't take offence at this because she knew what that look had meant and she knew he already knew answer. Deciding to try and get some rest, she closed eyes and gradually let her head fall onto John's shoulder. It wasn't a conscious decision, but neither of them made a move to stop it happening.

The light sleep she had allowed herself to fall into was soon interrupted by the opening of a door, and she looked up to see Jonathan strutting in with his usual certainty.

'Go and get some rest.' He said to the marines who had been watching them for the last couple of hours.

The marines nodded to Jonathan and left without a look back at the prisoners. When the door had closed behind them, the team stood up and walked over to the bars, awaiting any news that Jonathan could give them.

'Is he sedated?' Elizabeth asked anxiously.

'Oh yes. And, let me tell you, it wasn't easy.'

'What happened?' Carson asked.

'He woke up, so we had to gag and restrain him first.' Jonathan cringed.

'Oh great.' Zelenka muttered.

'Don't worry. He should be out for a couple of hours, giving you plenty of time to get your asses out of here.'

'Just like that?' Elizabeth asked, doubtfully.

'Well, obviously, I need your very own Doctor McKay to change into something more Meredith and give the order to release you, but, yeah, pretty much.' Jonathan shrugged.

With that, he opened the door to the cell and beckoned a nervous-looking Rodney to join him. Elizabeth smiled at him in what she hoped was an encouraging manner, but the most he could manage in return was a grimace. Discreetly, she nudged John, who she suspected would be able to give Rodney some of the confidence that he so clearly needed.

'You'll be fine. I know you will.' John said, confidently.

'That's easy for you to say. I'll probably end up dead if Meredith wakes up.'

'He won't.' Jonathan insisted.

Rodney cleared his throat and turned to the team, 'Well, until we meet again.'

**A/N: So sorry for how long it has taken to update this story. I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life recently, but I'm hoping to get this finished soon. Again, sorry.**


	19. Chapter 19

With Rodney absent from the cell, John had been forced to ask Lieutenant Ford, as one of the few military personnel who remained loyal to him, in charge of watching them despite the exhaustion that was written all over his face. To some extent, his presence did break the tension slightly as he made small talk with John about baseball, and as she watched them conversing, Elizabeth had a sneaking suspicion that rather than being uncomfortable, John was proud that despite everything that had happened, he remained the loyal officer that he had known him as before he had allowed his forced addiction to get the better of him.

Being kept in the dark about what was going on was the worst part of waiting. Although Radek had mused the possibility that Rodney would go straight to Meredith to release him, Elizabeth was confident that he wouldn't let them down again; not when she had seen how truly sorry he was about doing it the first time. Still, she couldn't help but worry that somehow Rodney's true identity would be discovered and they be back to square one – worse even, because this plan certainly didn't have a chance of working a second time round. What would happen then was beyond her, although she had a sneaking suspicion that there wasn't much chance of them seeing their own version of Atlantis again. If and when they returned home, some very thorough discussions were needed about any future use of the device which had allowed them to dial here. Thankfully, for now that could wait, as Jonathan returned to the cell and grinned at their eager expressions.

'Nobody suspects a thing and you're free to go. I'm here to escort you to the gate.' Jonathan said.

At this, Elizabeth couldn't suppress her smile and when Jonathan opened the cell for them she immediately wrapped her arms around him for a brief moment before pulling back and mouthing 'thank you' at him. Even John, who had not held back in his disdain for his alternate self, managed a thankful nod in his direction.

It did cross her mind that somebody might notice that their Rodney was missing from the group being marched through the city, but it was late at night, and anybody still working would be in the gate room and by the time they reached the gate room, there was little chance that they could be prevented from leaving, especially with the force of Jonathan and Aiden behind them.

Metres away from the gate room, they were stopped in their tracks by a tremor that shook the whole city and was quickly followed by successive explosive tremors, each tremor becoming more intense and making it difficult to stand. Elizabeth looked to Jonathan who looked as confused as she did, and raised his weapon as he led them into the gate room where they were greeted a team of Scientists, including their very own Doctor McKay, crowding round and computer and arguing over one another.

'What's going on?' Jonathan asked.

Rodney looked up at them with a mixture of fear and disbelief, 'It's the Wraith.'

'How?' Jonathan demanded.

'I don't know, but we have seen these tactics before and I'm telling you, this city is already crawling with Wraith. They're beaming down from darts before making Kamikaze runs into the city.' Rodney shouted.'

'How many Wraith?' Jonathan demanded.

'By now? Somewhere in the region of a hundred. And that's not even the worst part; we're picking up a hive ship on the sensors.' Rodney said earnestly.

'How didn't we pick this up earlier?'

'Our sensors have been running at minimum to reduce the power requirements.' Chuck admitted.

'Raise the shield.' Jonathan barked.

Obediently, Chuck began tapping away at the control panel, but stopped as the screen bleeped that all-so-familiar sound and flashed red, and turned to look at Jonathan in disbelief.

'They've taken out the shield genera-' Chuck began.

'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?' Meredith roared as he strode into the gate room.

Instinctively, Jonathan pointed his gun at Meredith who was looking as though he found it difficult to stand, probably the effects of the sedative. Behind Jonathan, John guided Elizabeth, Radek and Carson backwards and Elizabeth realised he was edging them towards the DHD, which she saw, from the corner of her eye, was already connected to the device.

'You're not the real McKay? Chuck asked in surprise.

'We're under attack from the Wraith.' Jonathan said, speaking over Chuck.

'And you're standing around making small talk with PRISONERS?' Meredith demanded.

Jonathan reached to his radio for his radio with a disdainful stare at Meredith and said, 'All military personnel on the base, report to the gate room now with as much ammunition as you can carry. This is not a drill.'

'No, no, no; you don't have time. You have to get everybody out of here now and set the self destruct.' Rodney said, continuing to frantically type at the laptop he was working at.

'No doubt so you can lute our city.' Meredith spat.

'If you could just take your head out of your ass for two-seconds you might realise that not only are you outnumbered, but the only way the Wraith can get to Earth is through this city.' Rodney said, standing up and glowering at Meredith.

'I am not leaving this city. We will stay and fight.' Meredith said resolutely.

The attention that was focussed on both McKay's was at this point broken by the sound of the Stargate dialling, and Elizabeth turned to see John hurriedly dialling the address of their own Atlantis. John looked up to see her questioning eyes, but continued dialling. When the wormhole had stabilised he looked over to Meredith.

'You don't stand a chance against the Wraith. Set the self-destruct and you can come with us.' John said.

'We're staying to fight.'

'If you stay here you are going to die!' Carson said, stepping forward.

'We'll take our chances.' Meredith stated, before turning to address the military personnel were starting to collect in the gate room. Jonathan turned to them, and took Elizabeth's hand.

'Just get through the gate. I'll get everyone out of here.'

Another explosion shook the city and Elizabeth nodded at Jonathan before running towards the gate with a worried look back at the disarray that was resulting under Meredith's orders.

'Rodney, get the hell out of here.' John shouted across the gate room.

'Just give me -' Rodney said through gritted teeth, still frantically tapping at the laptop in front of him.

'We have to get out of here NOW.' John said.

Rodney looked up at John with a sad realisation filling his eyes. He ran down the steps and shoved the laptop into Meredith's hand, barking an inaudible stream of instructions before running after the retreating backs of his team mates.

They kept running until they stumbled onto the floor of their own gate room and wormhole closed behind them. All five of them turned to look at the Stargate.

'I just hope we left them enough time.' Elizabeth said.


	20. Chapter 20

The moment he was alerted to their return, Steven Caldwell had insisted on an immediate debrief, much to the frustration of the team. The lack of sleep over the past two days, as well as the emotionally draining manner in which they had left, meant that they soon submitted to Caldwell's request. Elizabeth hadn't even taken the time to consider how it would ever be possible to explain the events of their mission, but as they walked to briefing, Elizabeth was very much aware that the actions of her and her team meant she could very well be saying goodbye to a second Atlantis in the foreseeable future.

The style in which Caldwell chose to conduct the interview, starting with the manner in which they had returned to Atlantis, only served to convince Elizabeth that she was heading straight into a whole lot of trouble. To prolong the moment, she allowed John and Rodney to detail the attack which the alternate Atlantis faced and which they had, themselves, almost faced death at, with an expression on passive interest which she had almost perfected in the company of Caldwell. The moment didn't last though, as Zelenka explained that, at the time of the attack, their very own Rodney was in command of the city in order to facilitate their escape. As the words left Zelenka's mouth, Elizabeth could also hear Caldwell's head snap in her direction, as a gradual blush rose to Zelenka's cheeks.

'And how exactly did you find yourself in a position where you needed to escape?' Caldwell asked angrily.

'Due to a...disagreement with their Doctor McKay, we unfortunately found ourselves in a position where we imprisoned.'

'Is that so? Would you care to explain why?' Caldwell asked, coldly.

Elizabeth smiled awkwardly, 'Well...'

'A deal went wrong.' Rodney interjected.

Each person in the room turned to look at Rodney, both confused and slightly intrigued by what he was going to say. Under their gazes, Rodney shifted uncomfortably but eventually settled his eyes on Caldwell with a steely air of defiance.

'Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard were asked to join one of their teams on a trade mission, but unfortunately, the deal went wrong when their _Major_ Sheppard tried it on with the leader's wife. After that, our own Elizabeth discovered that Major Sheppard was having an affair with Lieutenant Cadman and felt honour-bound to inform Sheppard and Cadman's partners, which, very sadly resulted in the death of their Doctor Beckett. Meredith held Elizabeth responsible for this and demanded that if we wished to leave, we would have to leave our own Doctor Beckett behind, which Elizabeth refused to submit too.'

As Rodney said these words, he barely blinked, keeping his eyes firmly focussed on Caldwell, who had seemingly accepted the story, given the way he had raised his eyebrows and jokingly stated that it was a relief that Elizabeth had been chosen as the leader of this Atlantis. For Elizabeth though, the relief was all hers, to all of her team who didn't deny Rodney's version of event, but mostly Rodney. Even though she had been furious with him, so furious, she couldn't deny that his bravery in attempting to save the alternate Atlantis, and his efforts to save their careers had completely rid her o any residue anger she may have been feeling. It was impossible to be angry with somebody who had saved your career, especially when you considered them to be a friend.

With that, Elizabeth put in a polite, but firm request that they should be permitted to dial back to the alternate Atlantis in the faint hope that the city had recovered. As Rodney connected the device and slowly typed the symbols, Elizabeth found that she was clutching the rails and that, below the red fabric of her top, her heart was racing.

It stopped when the gate failed to establish a wormhole.

Behind Rodney offered to attempt again, and even though she knew the truth, Elizabeth nodded, continuing to stare at the gate which, once again, failed to establish a wormhole. After several seconds, Elizabeth managed to regain her composure and straightened, turning to face Rodney who looked equally dispirited.

'They're dead.' Rodney said.

'We don't know that. Major Sheppard would have done all he could to save those people.' Elizabeth said, bravely.

Silently, Elizabeth closed her eyes and prayed that they had been saved, as the alternative was too painful to consider. When she opened them once again, Elizabeth saw that people were returning to their quarters and stations and she was left with Rodney awkwardly stood beside her, unable to quite meet her eye.

'I suppose I should start work on that resignation letter.' Rodney said.

Elizabeth smiled at him, 'You suppose wrong.'

'I do?' Rodney asked, with a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes.

'Yes. We've all made mistakes, acted out of character, but you, more than anybody, have shown that doesn't mean you can't still be a good person. You are a good person Rodney, and you are a valuable member of this team.' Elizabeth said.

'I don't know what to say...thank you Elizabeth.' Rodney said.

Elizabeth smiled in return, but was almost knocked off her feet when Rodney flung himself against her and wrapped his arms around her. Wriggling an arm free, Elizabeth gently patted him on the back. Eventually, Rodney let go and continued to thank her and issue promises that he wouldn't let her down, and even though she knew that _something _would go wrong _somewhere _down the line she accepted his promise, knowing that he would always do what he considered best for the inhabitants of Atlantis, and that was all that anyone could promise.

This included herself, and she pondered the promise she had made to herself that if they ever returned to _this _Atlantis, she would be honest with John. She had no choice really; too much had happened for the conversation that was so needed to be avoided indefinitely. So after Elizabeth checked in with Teyla to ensure that Caldwell hadn't made any too drastic changes to the city, Elizabeth found herself outside of John Sheppard's quarters, with a fixed smile as the door slid open.

'Hey.' Elizabeth said, softly.

'Err, hey. Do you want to come in?' John asked, awkwardly.

'Yes. If that's okay?' Elizabeth asked.

John stepped aside and vaguely waved his hand in the direction of the bedroom, and Elizabeth stepped past him, seemingly breaking some unbroken agreement that had existed since they had slept together. The door sliding closed behind her only seemed to prove this. Briefly, as he stood behind her, she allowed herself to take a glimpse into the private world of John Sheppard; the Johnny Cash poster on the wall, the dumped bag on the bed, the game of solitaire on the screen of his laptop.

'Have you attempted to dial again?' John asked.

'No.' Elizabeth admitted, sadly.

John studied her face for several seconds and, nodded, knowing what this did and didn't mean. With John's eyes on her face, Elizabeth found she was suddenly very aware for the reason behind her visit. Tentatively, she stepped forward and sat down on his bed, hoping that the move would put them both more at ease. Seemingly it did as John lowered himself to sit beside her, their bodies brushing slightly.

Elizabeth laughed slightly, 'I came here with this massive speech planned out in my head, and now I can't think of a word to say.'

'Elizabeth you don't need to say anything.'

'I do, or we're going to spend the rest of our lives in Atlantis tiptoeing around each other pretending that we barely know one another.'

'I guess, but I kinda figured that even if we do have this conversation, that was gonna happen anyway.' John said, studying her face.

'Still, I think we _do _need to have this conversation.'

'I'm all ears.' John grinned

'Don't be cute; it's only going to make it harder.'

'Okay, I'll start then. I've got this massive crush on by boss, who is amazing by the way.' John said, nudging her.

Elizabeth laughed and put her head in her hands, attempting to cover both her embarrassment and pleasure at hearing these words. This was not what she had expected to happen; at this stage, she had expected them to be still making small talk.

'Please don't.' Elizabeth said.

'You didn't let me finish. BUT, she's we're both very professional people, so I think it would be best if we pretend that my little crush doesn't exist.' John said, gently.

'I hate that I, we, have to do this, but you're right; we are professional people and unfortunately our professions don't allow for us to be in a relationship.'

Both continued to sit on the bed, their hands slowly entwining and disentwining, as they wistfully reflected on what they were both giving up. Gradually, though, their hands pulled apart and Elizabeth stood up and smoothed her shirt, ready to face anybody who may be on the other side of that door wondering why she was ever in John's quarters in the first place.

As she reached the door, John said, 'And, it's not all bad, I got to take you to bed.'

Without looking around, Elizabeth smiled and shook her before slipping through the door to an empty corridor. Strolling through her city, back to her quarters Elizabeth reflected on how she had allowed herself to fall in love with him in the first place. He was everything that Elizabeth had warned herself off as a youth, watching from the window; book in hand, as her friends had rushed off to meet their dates. Dates just like John Sheppard, with the charisma, the charm and the looks which inevitably left her friends' hearts broken. She had told herself then, as she told herself now, that she was better off out of it, with a book in hand.

Yet, she couldn't help but ponder the possibility that behind the charisma, the charm and the looks, John Sheppard was different. Perhaps that why she found herself returning to John Sheppard's quarters under the pretence of borrowing a Johnny Cash CD. Perhaps that's why she ended up listening to the CD lying in bed, in the dark, with John Sheppard beside her.

**The End**


End file.
